Town planner Nina Stieger was recently officially registered as a woman. For 54 years her name had been Ueli. Now after a lengthy process, during which she also had to deal with discrimination, her dream has come true.
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A journalist at Swiss Radio International, the predecessor of SWI swissinfo.ch, beginning in 1999. Started out as an investigative journalist and TV reporter in Mexico.
Thomas Kern was born in Switzerland in 1965. Trained as a photographer in Zürich, he started working as a photojournalist in 1989. He was a founder of the Swiss photographers agency Lookat Photos in 1990. Thomas Kern has won twice a World Press Award and has been awarded several Swiss national scholarships. His work has been widely exhibited and it is represented in various collections.
The expression “transgender” is used to describe the gender identity of people who are born with a clearly male or female body, but who feel they belong to the other sex, or that they are half-way between the sexes, or that they are part one and part the other. Many – but not all – undergo hormone treatment and/or operations to bring their body into line with their identity. Transgender people are still stigmatised in Switzerland and find a problem with being accepted, including in their jobs. Nina Stieger is involved in the Transgender Network Switzerland association, which campaigns to improve their social and legal situation. (Thomas Kern, Patricia Islas and Daniel Wihler, swissinfo.ch)
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Third gender fights for recognition
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“Imagine what it’s like when the midwife can’t tell you if your baby is a boy or a girl. What should you call it? How do you announce the birth to your friends or to the registrar’s office? ‘He was born with a male XY chromosome, but also a uterus, a sort of penis or a…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.