To Örebro University

Feminist approaches to citizenship have for a long time problematized the traditional view of male, white, heterosexual, and able-bodied citizenship. Nonetheless, many feminist theories on citizenship are based on the gender binary system and the idea of universal rights for all, which tend to erase differences and structural inequalities (Monro and Warren, Sexualities 7(3):345–362, 2004; Monro, The limits of gendered citizenship: contexts and complexities, Routledge, 2010; Monro and Van der Ros, Crit Soc Policy 38(1):57–78, 2018; Kuhar et al., Crit Soc Policy 38(1):99–120, 2018). In this chapter, I discuss how feminist politics address trans* people’s citizenship using the concept of trans* citizenship developed by Surya Monro (Crit Soc Policy 23(4):433–452, 2003), Monro (The limits of gendered citizenship: contexts and complexities, Routledge, 2010), while engaging with Nancy Fraser’s understanding of recognition (Fraser, New Left Rev 1(3):107–120, 2000; Fraser, Crit Inq 34(3):393–422, 2008). Thus, I focus on the politics of recognition that emphasises the status and needs of citizens in achieving social justice. Through examining the use of some theoretical concepts in feminist politics, I discuss how the limits of identity-based politics of recognition in feminist theories and practices have amounted to social injustices and denial of trans* people’s needs, affecting their citizenship. Thus, I maintain that trans* citizenship needs feminist socio-legal researchers, practitioners, and policy makers’ attention to social status and needs of trans* people with respect to people’s diversity of knowledge and experiences.