This article analyses a number of challenges and barriers faced by transgender persons in general, and the MTF in particular, regarding their livelihoods, and argues that social prejudices have driven transgender persons to the point of desperation in their search for livelihood and made them prone to poverty. | Transgender Persons in Contemporary Vietnam: Marginalisation and Livelihood Challenges Pham Quynh Phuong1 1 Institute of Cultural Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Email: Received: 20 October 2016 Accepted: 28 October 2016 Abstract: On 24 November 2015, the National Assembly passed the amended Civil Code, which officially legalises sex reassignment surgery (SRS) in Vietnam and introduces the right to legal gender recognition for transgender people who have undergone such surgery (Article 37). It is an important breakthrough, marking the efforts by the movement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people for equality. However, transgender persons have still been facing challenges. While both the groups of trans women (or transgender women, or MTF: Male to Female) and trans men (or transgender men, or FTM: Female to Male) encounter social prejudices, the former are more vulnerable, isolated and marginalised in a patriarchal and male-dominated society. This article analyses a number of challenges and barriers faced by transgender persons in general, and the MTF in particular, regarding their livelihoods, and argues that social prejudices have driven transgender persons to the point of desperation in their search for livelihood and made them prone to poverty. Keywords: Transgender, prejudice, livelihood, poverty. Introduction The date of 24 November 2015 marked an important milestone when the National Assembly passed the amended Civil Code which officially legalises sex reassignment surgery (SRS). Though the revised legislation would not take effect before the first day of 2017, the decision was welcomed with great joys by the Vietnamese transgender community. Until not long ago, the term “transgender” was still relatively new, sounding strange, in the Vietnamese society, and transgender persons were not recognised2. Given the legalisation of the right to sex reassignment surgery, transgender persons can now live a
