Between social constraint and resourcefulness: access to the labour market of trans women in Lima (Peru)

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Access to decent work is a crucial element for human development; however, in severalcountries, trans women confront the most significant challenges to develop successful labourtrajectories due to the prejudice against their gender identity expression. As such,trans women in Peru mostly dedicate to stigmatised economic activities: sex work (64%) andhairdressing (28%), while only 3% works under formal conditions (Salazar et al. 2010). Thissituation is generated by direct discrimination from employers who do not hire them due totheir gender identity and limited access to the education system (Defensoria del Pueblo,2016; No tengo Miedo, 2016). Nevertheless, besides discrimination, other factors explain trans women's labourtrajectories: their gender performance as well as their access to social, cultural, andeconomic capital (Grados, 2014). In that sense, their body's feminisation, the adoption ofsigns of femininity that allow them to be recognised by others in this way (Ekins, 1996),makes the transgression to the heteronormative order more evident, reducing their jobopportunities. The beginning of their feminisation is associated with their access to capital,which is reproduced by their family support and studying higher education opportunities.Therefore, this thesis will focus on comprehending how trans women's gender performanceand access to capital influence their labour trajectories in Lima (Peru).This is a highly unresearched topic in academia, which provides an original contribution tothe existing literature about inequalities by exploring the interlinks between gender identityperformance and the labour market.Moreover, analysing the Peruvian case is pivotal tocomprehend similar dynamics in Latin America.