Women with disabilities face particular disadvantages in various areas of life compared to men with disabilities, reports Disabled Peoples’ International.

In Gendering the Draft Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities, Dr. Sigrid Arnade and Sabine Haefner revealed that while women with disabilities have much in common with men with disabilities, women with disabilities have to face multiple discrimination in many cases. This means they are often more disadvantaged than men with disabilities in similar circumstances.

Areas of specific concern related to women with disabilities include:

Education. Education levels and literacy rates of women with disabilities tend to be lower than those of men with disabilities. The estimated literacy rate for people with disabilities worldwide is 3%, with the rates for women and girls with disabilities being about only 1%.

Work and Employment. Three quarters of women with disabilities worldwide and up to 100% in some developing countries are excluded from the workforce—though the majority contribute significantly to their families through cooking, cleaning, caring for children and relatives. So the vast majority of women with disabilities live in poverty. Disabled women are twice as unlikely to find work as disabled men and earn 55% less than disabled men.

Family Rights. For many women with disabilities, both in industrialised and developing countries, neither marriage nor childbearing and motherhood are seen as a viable option. Studies found that 50% of women with activity limitation were married, compared to 68% of men with activity limitation. Women who became disabled after marriage are at higher risk of divorce than disabled men and have often problems to maintain custody of their children or to adopt children.

Health. When ill, girls and women are less likely to receive medical attention or to be taken to hospitals, especially in developing countries. An untreated earache, for example, can result in acute hearing loss. Women and girls with disabilities face many barriers to basic health care. Medical research is often based on studies of men and disabled women are not included in the mainstream health care programs, particularly maternal and gynaecological issues. They are often sent to poorly equipped rehabilitation-focused facilities.

Violence and Abuse. Women with disabilities are at high risk from physical and sexual violence, at least at double the rate of their non-disabled peers. They are viewed as ”easy targets.“ Studies from industrialised countries suggest that 39 to 68% of girls and 16 to 30 % of boys with developmental disabilities will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. Women with psychiatric disabilities or women in institutions are also at high risk for violence and abuse.

Women comprise 50% (about 300 million women) of all people with disabilities worldwide, according to United Nations data. 240 million of them living in developing countries. They comprise 10% of all women worldwide.

Source: Arnade, Dr. Sigrid and Haefner, Sabine. January 2006. Gendering the Draft Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Berlin: Disabled Peoples´ International (DPI).