Bangladesh’s first transgender news anchor featured in Time's top 100 photos of 2021
Bangladesh's first transgender news presenter Tashnuva Anan Shishir has been featured in Time Magazine's selection of the 100 best photos of 2021.
A photo of her in the Boishakhi TV newsroom, accompanied by her coworkers wearing the same themed sarees, is now being virtually displayed in an unranked list covering the most important and iconic moments of this year.
The image – placed along with moments such as George Flloyd's family cheering during the verdict, and the Taliban's walking into Kabul – was grabbed by AFP Dhaka photographer Munir Uz Zaman on 8 March.
"Remember when people thought it was the year? That 2020 was uniquely cursed, the worst year ever, that all would be resolved by January," Time wrote in the report published on 24 November.
"Instead, 2021 has proved to be a fraught annum of unfinished transitions, half-kept promises, all torque, and in-betweens," it added.
The full list of photos can be found here.
Shishir joined Boishakhi TV's news desk marking the occasion of this year's International Women's Day.
Alongside her activities in the media industry, Tashnuva Anan Shishir is currently pursuing her international Master's degree in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the Brac James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), Brac University with scholarships in two categories.
An active member of the renowned theatre troupe BotTala, Shishir has been working for theatre since 2007.
She has recently appeared in Anonno Mamun's film 'Koshai' as a detective officer and will be seen on director's Syed Shahriar's upcoming cinema 'Goal' as a football coach.
In her illustrious career, she worked as the Case Management Officer in the Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program (OKUP) from June 2020, worked as the project officer in Bandhu Social Welfare Society and also worked in other voluntary projects before for organizations including Sangat - A Feminist Network, Roopban, Oboyob and Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center (BYLC).
She also served as the Executive Officer for the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh; Research Assistant for Re Think Bangladesh and icddr, b (International Centre for Diarrhoeal Diseases Research, Bangladesh), as well as the Cultural Facilitator for SEPP (Social Economic Enhancement Program).
Meanwhile, the country, on Sunday, elected its first-ever transgender UP chairman Nazrul Islam Ritu, who won from the Trilochonpur union of Jhenaidah's Kaliganj upazila bagging 9,557 votes.
The government, in 2013, allowed trans people to be recognised as a separate gender. They were allowed to register to vote as a third gender five years later.
