“States Parties recognise that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination, and in this regards shall take measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by them of all their human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 6 (extract)
Handicap & Gender
The link between gender equality and women with disabilities
- 70% of those living in extreme poverty are women;
- Only 1% of women with disabilities is able to read and write.
Women with disabilities face a twofold discrimination: in the eyes of society their disability and their gender sets them back. They have less access to education then other women and people with disabilities, they seek and receive less medical care than men with similar disabilities, they experience a high level of discrimination on the job market, they find themselves to be underrepresented on the political scene and have more trouble in finding a partner. It should come to no surprise than that women with disabilities find themselves excluded from normal life and society even more than others.
In the South bearing and raising children and running a household are considered to be the core of womanhood. These tasks don’t come easy to women with disabilities. All the more reason to promote their right to plan their life and to a fulfilling sex life. To women with an intellectual disability these aspects of life remain a taboo and it proves highly difficult to break the silence
Infantilism towards people with disabilities, the view on pureness of genes and biological determinism strip people with disabilities from their dignity and their sexual and reproductive rights. One of the consequences is the often-forced sterilization of women with disabilities.
Studies show women are extremely vulnerable to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. After all, their safety net is limited: the police tends to intervene less frequently, legal protection is only a fraction of what it should be and most countries lack an efficient reporting mechanism when concerning the rights – and abuses- of women with disabilities.
Policy makers and civil organizations should be aware of the vulnerable and fragile position of women with disabilities in our societies. Hence, both disability but gender should be included and integrated in development policy and in emancipatory initiatives.
