Bokang Bane
As Queer WorX, we speak not as statisticians or labour market experts, but as advocates and concerned citizens dedicated to ensuring that all Basotho are counted and recognised. We acknowledge the effort involved in producing national reports, such as the Labour Force Survey, and we respect the expertise of the Bureau of Statistics in that work. However, from our perspective, as a community-driven organisation focused on economic inclusion, certain patterns and silences in the data stand out.
We observe these silences not through a technical lens, but through the realities of the queer Basotho we work with: young people seeking jobs, entrepreneurs excluded from opportunities, and workers navigating discrimination. We understand enough to know that when entire identities are not reflected in national surveys, it has real consequences for whether they are included in policies, programmes, and support systems.
The 2024 Labour Force Survey (LFS) presents a sobering picture of Lesotho’s labour market realities, but it also highlights a deeper, persistent flaw in our national data system: the lack of inclusive gender representation.
When Queer WorX speaks about economic inclusion, we speak as citizens rendered invisible in Lesotho’s development agenda. Our core mission is to champion economic inclusion, particularly the LGBTIQ+ community. Economic inclusion is not an abstract theory; it is a lived urgency. A significant part of this advocacy involves ensuring robust data disaggregation and gender mainstreaming in national reports. It is with this lens that we approach the recently released 2024 LFS.
LFS proudly reports disaggregated data across sex, age, marital status, and education, thoroughly breaking down population distribution, working-age demographics, employment, earnings, and unemployment. Yet every table, chart, and figure in these 172 pages frames Basotho citizens exclusively in binary terms (male/female).
This systematic omission of individuals with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations constitutes more than a technical oversight; it is an act of erasure. By rendering gender and sexual minorities invisible, the report obscures their unique economic participation and challenges.
Consequently, the analysis fails to capture the intersecting layers of exclusion, where sexual/gender identity compounds socioeconomic marginalisation, perpetuating real economic harm against queer Basotho.
This statistical erasure directly contradicts our stated commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the mandate to ‘leave no one behind’ and advance gender equality. How can we reconcile this pledge with the systematic exclusion of citizens whose realities transcend the male/female binary?
When entire communities remain invisible across every metric, from labour force participation and unemployment rates to educational attainment and earnings disparities, the report’s otherwise detailed analysis of social and economic factors becomes fundamentally incomplete. It fails to even acknowledge the existence, let alone the economic experiences, of transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming, or intersex Basotho.
This profound limitation cripples our understanding of the workforce’s true diversity. Consequently, policymakers, planners, and international partners lack the critical data needed to design genuinely inclusive economic interventions. How can we effectively address unemployment, underemployment, or informal labour for all Basotho if we refuse to count all Basotho?
Lesotho’s working-age population is reported at over 1.5 million. But how many of them are LGBTIQI+? How many queer individuals are trapped in informal, underpaid sectors due to systemic discrimination? How many are unemployed, not because of a lack of skills, but because their identities are not welcome in the workplace? The LFS cannot answer these questions, because it never asked them.
The report states that Lesotho’s active youth labour force population was 373,313 in 2024, meaning 373,313 young people aged roughly 15–35 years were actively participating in the economy, either working or looking for work. Gender-diverse youth are part of that workforce in real life, yet they are invisible in official statistics and, by extension, in economic policies and programmes.
If Lesotho is serious about addressing youth unemployment or supporting entrepreneurship, it must count all young people, including those outside binary gender categories. When a country’s largest and most active labour segment is measured using incomplete categories, it not only misses numbers but also misses real people, real needs, and real opportunities for growth.
This is not merely an academic concern; it has tangible, detrimental impacts on economic inclusion. When data collection fails to capture the full spectrum of gender identities, the unique challenges and contributions of LGBTIQ+ Basotho in the labour force remain unseen. How can we formulate effective policies for “decent work for all” if a significant portion of “all” is not counted, not categorised, and therefore, not considered in policy formulation?
The mission of the Bureau of Statistics to produce “accurate, timely, reliable, culturally relevant and intentionally comparable statistical data for evidence-based planning, decision making, research, policy, program formulation and monitoring and evaluation to satisfy the needs of users and producers” falls short when it comes to the LGBTIQ+ community.
… and this is not a matter of statistical convenience.
It is a political choice. Data defines who is counted, who is seen, and ultimately, who is served. If there is no data on Basotho who identify as LGBTIQ+, how can policies address our unemployment rates, workplace discrimination, or economic exclusion?
What makes this silence even more striking is the state’s ability to collect disaggregated data when it chooses. In the health sector, particularly around HIV, data exists on men who have sex with men (MSM), and other so-called “key populations.” But these labels are often framed through a pathologising, risk-focused lens that reduces LGBTIQ+ people to sexual behaviour rather than acknowledging us as full human beings with natural relationships, aspirations, and contributions.
This fragmented recognition masterfully sustains a convenient fiction: that LGBTIQ+ Basotho exist solely as disease vectors for public health bulletins, never as actual workers, entrepreneurs, artists, professionals, or innovators.
How efficient! It perfectly fuels our social and economic exclusion, blissfully ignoring the tedious reality that we do participate in Lesotho’s workforce (assuming we are graciously allowed employment), we do pay taxes (provided, of course, we miraculously possess the means despite systemic barriers), and we even dare to create jobs (if the hallowed ‘equal opportunities’ ever materialise beyond press releases).
We even build families (if the law, in its infinite wisdom, deigns to recognise our relationships, ha!). Yes, we contribute, persistently, visibly, and undeniably, even as the law and official statistics generously offer us the courtesy of invisibility.
Lesotho’s economy cannot thrive if entire segments of its population remain invisible in official statistics. We need national surveys that respect gender diversity, as per international best practices, including inclusive gender identity questions and options beyond binary markers.
The first step to inclusion is recognition. Without that, “leave no one behind” risks becoming little more than folklore, a story we tell ourselves, a folklore repeated in policy documents, but never fully realised in the lived experiences of queer Basotho.
From a feminist economics lens, this omission is not just discriminatory; it is inefficient. Human capital theory and the capabilities approach are clear: national growth requires recognising all talent. Excluding LGBTIQ+ Basotho from data and plans is not merely a human rights violation; it is an active waste of human capital, stifling Lesotho’s economic potential.
Our policy frameworks perform a cruel magic trick: pledging ‘inclusion’ while erasing queer realities. The NSDP II trumpets ‘inclusive growth’ yet ignores how SOGIE-specific vulnerabilities, like the fear of reporting violence documented by the ICJ, directly fuel unemployment. While the Constitution promises equality, legislative gaps leave LGBTIQ+ Basotho exposed to violence and discrimination.
The hypocrisy deepens. The NSDP II demands ‘disaggregated data’ as a pillar of ‘leaving no one behind’ and aims to close gender indicator gaps. Yet, it wilfully exempts SOGIE, trapping ‘gender’ in a male/female binary. Its vision of a “participatory, demand-driven” statistical system rings hollow when transgender, non-binary, and intersex citizens remain uncounted.
Look at the NFIS II: It envisions a “dynamic, inclusive financial sector” enabling “all Basotho,” links to SDG 5 on gender equality, and promises to address gender and vulnerability across all working groups.” It champions digital IDs and e-KYC as keys to inclusion. Yet, it remains stunningly blind to how biometric systems alienate gender-nonconforming citizens. These are not just incomplete documents; they are blueprints for exclusion and discrimination, masquerading as policy.
For Queer WorX, grounded in the lived realities of our community, we believe gender mainstreaming and inclusive data are not academic luxuries; they are foundations of economic justice. The absence of inclusive data means the continued exclusion of queer people from employment statistics, earnings estimates, and social protection programs. In essence, it institutionalises invisibility.
Worse, it enables systems like biometric ID and digital KYC to alienate gender-nonconforming citizens, locking them out of financial inclusion, healthcare, and formal employment when legal gender markers do not reflect their identity. This institutionalised invisibility must end.
To dismantle this systemic exclusion, future surveys must be inclusive by design. We demand concrete, interconnected action: The Bureau of Statistics must overhaul labour surveys to explicitly include non-binary, transgender, and gender-diverse identities in demographic and economic data collection.
Simultaneously, the government must establish accessible legal gender recognition procedures, ensuring gender markers on official IDs reflect lived realities, a fundamental prerequisite for equitable access to services. This demands intentional dignity in systems: enumerators require rigorous training in ethical, confidential data collection, and digital ID infrastructure (including biometrics and e-KYC) must be reformed to accommodate diverse gender markers; failure here renders the promise of ‘inclusive finance’ a cruel joke.
Finally, enact a national gender mainstreaming policy explicitly protecting LGBTIQ+ populations, mandating inclusion across labour, finance, education, and social welfare sectors, with accessible legal gender recognition embedded as a core component of this framework.
Lesotho cannot afford to treat gender diversity as an afterthought or a taboo. Queer WorX calls on the Bureau of Statistics, policymakers, and development partners to mainstream gender diversity in labour statistics. Visibility is not just dignity. It is also smart economics. Inclusion in national data is inclusion in national development.
To move from folklore to lived reality, Lesotho must act with deliberate purpose to ensure that all its people are counted, seen, and included. It is not enough to express commitment to “leave no one behind” in speeches or development frameworks if the systems that count and serve the nation continue to erase entire communities.
The Bureau of Statistics must revise its labour force survey and other national instruments to integrate gender diversity questions that go beyond the male/female binary. This is not unprecedented; international standards from the United Nations and the International Labour Organisation already provide clear guidance on such practices. Collaboration plays a vital role. Community organisations such as Queer WorX, alongside other LGBTIQ+ and human rights organisations, stand ready to partner with government agencies to offer technical expertise and bridge trust gaps that often leave marginalised groups hesitant to engage with official processes.
Lesotho must move towards adopting a national gender mainstreaming policy that explicitly includes LGBTIQ+ populations. Such a policy would provide a formal framework to ensure all sectors, from labour to education, social welfare to economic development, recognise and plan for the full diversity of Basotho citizens.
Lastly, inclusion must be made transparent and accountable. It is no longer enough to state intentions without clear follow-through. Measurable indicators within Lesotho’s National Strategic Development Plan and SDG reporting must explicitly track gender diversity in economic participation and labour force data, making sure that all Basotho are truly counted and considered.
Leaving no one behind requires more than a slogan. It requires systems that actively reflect and respond to all identities. Counting every Basotho, in all their diversity, is where true inclusion begins. Leaving no one behind must be more than folklore. It must be deliberate, measurable, and actionable.
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