Farrah alluded to some of the issues, but what I want to say, as an immigrant woman and a racialized South Asian woman.... I don't know. In our home, this was something that wasn't even discussed. There was no talk about gender identity. You were raised to listen. You were not allowed to talk about these things. I see that hasn't changed within families who immigrate to this country, regardless of where they come from within the South Asian context. It's still a very silent issue.
I remember, very unfortunately, the time a few years ago when there was an educational piece that was introduced in schools. There were a lot of protests and objections. We had workshops for women who come here, to help them to understand that this was good for their children, and particularly good for young girls, because they had no idea of what we had seen and the level of incest within this community, particularly in the joint family structure.
While education will play a very big part, it is about access to this education, and how best children will be able to get that sense of “Where do I go? How do I understand this? Where can I find these resources?”, when parents are limiting that access. There is still that issue, and we need to find other ways of reaching out to immigrant communities.