Women with Disabilities

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

A woman with a disability is first and foremost a woman. But she is a woman with a "double disadvantage". Not only must she contend with the "traditional" barriers and challenges facing women in the home, the community and the world of work, but she also suffers the additional hardships, barriers and lack of opportunities resulting from her disability. Because of her impairment - and society's perception of it - she is often isolated, discriminated against, discouraged, and sometimes even prevented from participating actively in family and public life.

What is it like for a woman to live with a disability?

She is more likely to be poor or to have a lower standard of living than her peers, to be illiterate or to be less educated than others of her age group, to be unemployed or to earn a lower income than non-disabled women, to be physically and economically dependent upon others, and to suffer more physical, sexual or mental abuse than other women.

She is less likely to survive or to live as long a life as non-disabled women, to find a partner and to establish her own home, to join organizations or to participate in decision-making, and to benefit from development efforts - even those targeting women or persons with disabilities in general.

Or, in her own words:

No Application Form

There is no application form
To be disabled
If there were
I do not imagine myself filling one

It is difficult to live in this world
Some people look at me
As a useless creature
Yet they do not know

They do not know
That they are lost
That I do things they can't

In the streets
Their attention is drawn
They stare
As if I've come from Heaven
Some look with merciful faces
Some with the eyes of ignorance

So if you see a disabled person
Do not laugh
It may happen to you
Because there is no application form

If there were
I do not imagine myself filling one

by Nomathemba Mkandla, Zimbabwe

(From No Application Form: Poems and Stories by
Women with Disabilities from
Southern Africa, ILO, 1993)

In most developing countries, especially in rural areas, girls and women:

Bear a major share of the burden of poverty, both physically and economically. If disabled, they are even poorer, are totally dependent on others for survival and usually have a dismal future
Often have less food, health care and education than boys and men. Those with disabilities usually get even less food, access to health care and education than other family members
Are expected to perform all household work - cooking, fetching water and wood for fuel, going to the market, doing washing and laundry, minding younger children, gardening, cleaning the house and yard, among other daily tasks. Disabled girls and women are often regarded as useless and are not expected or encouraged to help with these tasks, even if physically able
Rarely participate in decision-making, either within the family or in the community. Decisions concerning girls and women with disabilities are usually made for them - they are rarely consulted, and almost never have an opportunity to make decisions for themselves

Furthermore, women with disabilities rarely have an opportunity to get married, but many have children. Due to ignorance, poverty and a longing to be accepted, women with disabilities are often victims of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

As many as one in four households in developing countries has a family member with a physical or mental impairment, and half of those are female. The causes of impairment often reflect the extent of poverty in a country - lack of primary health care, disease and chronic illness, lack of safe drinking water, poor sanitation, pollution, as well as home, transportation and work accidents, and natural and man-made disasters, including armed conflict. Many are impairments which, in industrialized countries, can be corrected medically or for which technical aids and devices or assistance are available to facilitate the normal activities of daily living and participation in working life.

In most industrialized countries, especially in urban areas:

Women with disabilities often have access to health care and rehabilitation services; some have access to education and vocational training opportunities. Many are working. Many are married and have families. In these countries, the challenge is not so much survival, but equality of opportunity - equal access to the same services and opportunities as those available to non-disabled women in society
The priority issues for women with disabilities in the advanced countries of Asia, Europe and North America include increasing access to open employment as well as self-employment, combating discrimination in the workplace, increasing the availability of the attendant care required to enable many women with disabilities to work, changing negative public attitudes towards persons with disabilities, and providing easier access to public and private buildings, transportation and communication
Disability in an industrialized country is characterized differently from that in a developing country, but the percentage of persons affected (some 10% of the population of all ages) is often similar. The definition of disability also sometimes differs, as individuals with "unseen" impairments such as heart disease, cancer, mental illness, etc., are often considered as disabled, even when able to work

Guidelines for improvement:

When gathering data disaggregated (i.e., broken down) by sex, include data on the prevalence of disabilities among women and on their access to education, training, and employment and work opportunities
When undertaking a needs assessment of women in general, include the practical and strategic needs of disabled women and women with disabled children or other family or household members, and address these needs in gender planning
When assessing the needs of women with disabilities, assess their access to, and control over, resources and benefits
Always consult with disabled womens' organizations at the local, national and regional levels, and seek ways to empower them, since they know best the problems and needs of women with disabilities
Encourage mainstream womens' organizations to address disabled womens' issues, and to actively include the participation of women with disabilities in their activities
Encourage trade unions and employers' organizations to address disabled womens' workplace issues, and to actively encourage disabled women workers and entrepreneurs to join their organizations
Identify and promote positive measures which can increase opportunities and facilitate the training and employment of women with disabilities
Include representatives of organizations of disabled women in the design of all development projects and programmes, both women-specific and general, and in policy and decision-making bodies at the project, community and national levels
Remember that women with disabilities are first and foremost women, and should be included in all gender mainstreaming efforts

The ILO itself has set several standards for dealing with disabled persons in the labour market:

ILO Policy Instruments

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No.159)
Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Recommendation, 1983 (No. 168)
Vocational Rehabilitation of the Disabled Recommendation, 1955 (No. 99)

In addition, the UN has adopted "Standard Rules on the Equalization of Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities", which serve as a policy guide for governments and a basis for action by disabled persons organizations, NGOs and international organizations.

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Gender! A Partnership of Equals Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.

Women with Disabilities

Gender! A Partnership of Equals
Geneve: International Labour Office, 2000. 115 p.