Redefining Women in Indian Law in 2025: Constitutional Inclusion of Trans Women in Workplace Protections, Welfare Schemes and Criminal Law

Nithyalakshmi V M; Merlin S; Saji Sivan S

doi:10.63363/aijfr.2025.v06i05.1669

Redefining Women in Indian Law in 2025: Constitutional Inclusion of Trans Women in Workplace Protections, Welfare Schemes and Criminal Law

Author(s)	Ms. Nithyalakshmi V M, Ms. Merlin S, Prof. Dr. Saji Sivan S
Country	India
Abstract	Over many centuries, gender has been categorized and recognized by society into two, male and female, while marginalizing transgender persons. In the recent era of modernization and progression in our society has significantly expanded the concept of gender. Although, our Indian constitution in many cases such as NALSA v. Union of India (2014), Puttuswamy v. Union of India (2017) and Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) have upheld and affirmed the rights of persons who identify themselves as another gender and their autonomy regarding their personal choices and rights, trans women still face discrimination in many other areas. The lack of a proper uniform legal definition of a “Woman” creates significant gaps in the protection of rights and implementation across various statutes. This paper utilizes doctrinal and comparative legal research by analyzing constitutional provisions, statutes, judicial decisions to construe an inclusive pathway for the definition of “woman”. This paper investigates how these inconsistencies cause hindrance in selected domains where the gendered legal classification has direct consequences: workplace protection under the POSH Act, women-specific welfare schemes, protection against violence and gender-linked provisions in criminal law. This paper explores the need for a unified constitutional framework as per Articles 14, 15, and 21 of the Constitution to ensure equality and dignity and the failure of existing frameworks like Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019. This paper analyzes recent court judgments, statutory ambiguities and international standards such as Yogakarta principles, in order to incorporate self-identification with statutory purpose and proportionality review. Also, the paper covers comparison with other countries for taking it as a model for inclusive legal drafting. This paper seeks to redefine and analyze the statutory definition of “woman” and suggest some practical reforms to elevate the welfare of trans women.
Keywords	Trans Women, Gender Identity, Self-Identification, Article 14, Article 15, Article 21, POSH Act, Welfare Schemes, Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019.
Published In	Volume 6, Issue 5, September-October 2025
Published On	2025-10-23
DOI	https://doi.org/10.63363/aijfr.2025.v06i05.1669
Short DOI	https://doi.org/g97v6x

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Redefining Women in Indian Law in 2025: Constitutional Inclusion of Trans Women in Workplace Protections, Welfare Schemes and Criminal Law

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