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In Indonesia, trans women face unique challenges due to climate change: ‘hard to make money’
- Trans women are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike
- Most of them are shut out of the formal economy and survive as buskers and sex workers, occupations that rely on them being able to solicit clients outdoors
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Joya Patiha, a 43-year-old Indonesian transgender woman, first started to notice that changing weather patterns in the mountain-ringed city of Bandung were affecting her income as a sex worker a decade ago.
The rainy season was lasting longer across the West Java province, winds were stronger and in some particularly bad years Patiha lost up to 80 per cent of her earnings.
Trans women like Patiha are among the most affected by extreme weather linked to climate change, as well as suffering disproportionately when disasters strike.
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“No one is coming out during the longer rainy season,” Patiha said. “It is very hard to make money during that unpredictable weather.”
Indonesia is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, and trans women, who tend to face more stigma and marginalisation than trans men or other LGBTQ Indonesians, are also among those hardest hit by extreme weather.
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