62% of Women Polled in Cairo Support Transgender Rights

The Thompson Reuters Foundation took to the streets in five of the world's cities, including Mexico, London, New York, Tokyo, and Cairo, and asked 1000 women: "Should transgender women have the same rights as other women?"

The poll, which was exclusively reported by Reuters, showed overwhelming support to transgender rights in all the aforementioned cities, with 62% of Cairene respondents answering with yes. Support for transgender women's rights was highest in Mexico City at 89%, while London and New York came in second with 87%, followed by Tokyo at 75%.

"I’m very surprised by the poll, happily surprised, as there is a lot of ignorance around transgender issues,” Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told Reuters. Darwish added that a significant number of women polled in Cairo didn't know what a trans woman was, with many of them initially confusing transgender women with drag queens and crossdressers.

Transgender people are those whose gender identity sits at odds with their assigned sex at birth. Not to be confused with transsexuals, who usually seek medical assistance to change their sex.

Read the original report through here.