Women With Disabilities Australia (wwda) wwda news issue 1, 2010
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- In This Issue: Feature Article: Recognition, respect and rights: disabled women in a globalised world 3 Proposed new disability policy framework for Australia 17
- WWDA Member Profiles 28 Dealing with Government Information Online 32 TASAust Connect 32 National forum for migrant women workers 33
- Feature Article Recognition, respect and rights: disabled women in a globalised world By Helen Meekosha and Carolyn Frohmader
- 1. Introduction
- 2. How do we think about disability and gender
- 3. Disabled Women Girls: An Overview
| Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA)
WWDA NEWS Issue 1, 2010 © ISSN: 1836-7739 Welcome to Issue 1, 2010 of WWDA NEWS – the quarterly Newsletter of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) is the peak organisation for women with all types of disabilities in Australia. It is a not-for-profit organisation constituted and driven by women with disabilities. It is the only organisation of its kind in Australia and one of only a very small number internationally. WWDA is inclusive and does not discriminate against any disability. WWDA is unique, in that it operates as a national disability organisation; a national women's organisation; and a national human rights organisation (more information about WWDA can be found at the organisation’s extensive website: www.wwda.org.au). If you have any questions, or would like more information on anything in this Newsletter, please email Carolyn or Shirley at: wwda@wwda.org.au Previous Newsletters and Update Reports are available on the WWDA website at: www.wwda.org.au/bulletin.htm 
PO Box 605, Rosny Park, Tasmania 7018 AUSTRALIA Ph: +61 3 62448288 Email: wwda@wwda.org.au Web: www.wwda.org.au In This Issue: Feature Article: Recognition, respect and rights: disabled women in a globalised world 3 Proposed new disability policy framework for Australia 17 Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into disability support 19 Violence Prevention - Update 20 The ‘Living Safer Sexual Lives’ Project 20 Government Releases Family Law Reviews 22 Violence Against Women Advisory Group (VAWAG) 23 UK Government Violence Prevention Strategy 24 Inclusion of women with disabilities in national women’s safety surveys 24 The Respectful Relationships Program 25 New Publications on Violence Against Women with Disabilities 27
Paper presented to the 2010 Regional Conference on Women with Disabilities Guangzhou China by Helen Meekosha on behalf of Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA). © Copyright 2010. 1. Introduction We are very aware of the inequalities between men and women. Men own most wealth, most institutions are run by men. Women are given less respect and their skills are less recognised than those of men. Even where women have made inroads into education and professional employment there remain many barriers. But in the 20th Century struggles by women, especially in rich countries in the global North, have led to reforms and improvements such as the right to vote, the right to own property and services such as refuges for victims of domestic violence, women’s health centres, equal employment programs and educational initiatives. Disabled women, on the other hand, have not achieved the same level of social, economic and political equality. In this paper we will argue that a precondition of disabled women achieving these equalities is recognition and respect by wider society. The lives and experiences of disabled women have been hidden from history and we are only just emerging as political actors in the struggle for human rights. In the 21st century increasing numbers of disabled women’s groups are fighting for their rights in their own localities and national organisations, but also networking at international forums and via the Internet. Disabled women are active not just in the privileged countries of the global North such as in Europe and the USA, but also in the poorer countries of Africa, Asia and India. Disabled women made a strong input into the writing of the United Nations Disability Convention, which was adopted on 13 December 2006, by the General Assembly. Pressure by women’s groups succeeded in getting a separate clause in the text of the Convention as well as several references to girls, women, and gender issues. 2. How do we think about disability and gender? Disability and gender come together in a particular form of social relations in which individuals and groups act. Both disability and gender involve relationships with bodies. But it is not simply a matter of biology. Sometimes our bodies are objects of social practice; sometimes we are agents in social practice [1]. Social practices construct our understanding of disability and gender. Social embodiment is the process by which disabled women live in the world as agents and objects [2]. Some writers have argued that a ‘double handicap’ [3] still exists as gender and disability contribute to disabled women’s unequal status. This concept is limited in describing the multi dimensional experience of disabled women. Gender and disability are not like layers of a cloak that can be taken off or put on at will depending on the circumstances. Improving the lives of disabled women is an immensely complicated affair. There are no easy solutions. Sometimes disability can be acknowledged and embraced with pride (deaf women are a good example); sometimes it is merely tolerated as part of life’s experience and some disabled women are desperate to seek a cure for their condition. Societies may impose the disabled identity against the subject’s will for the purposes of containment in institutions. Disability is also a reason for violence and brutality. The presence of disability legitimises abuses such as forced sterilisation. On the other hand disabled women who need special services may not be recognised – such as when they have mobility impairments and require appropriately sized examination tables in hospitals. When we talk of disabled women we have to pay attention to the historical and contextual dimensions. Disabled women who live in cities have different experiences from their rural counterparts and women who live in the global South experience more hardship than those in the mainly rich nations of the global North. Even the concept of disability is not agreed upon. Many traditional and indigenous communities do not use the concept. This is the case for Australian Aborigines. But we share one thing in common – there are very few disabled women with power, position and influence in the world. We also share the need for equal recognition of our lived experiences and equal respect for our differing impairments, which may be physical, sensory, cognitive or mental. Whilst acknowledging the great difference that exists between disabled women, the picture at a global level shows that the situation for women in developing and poorer countries is most acute. 3. Disabled Women & Girls: An Overview It is generally estimated that over 650 million people, or approximately ten percent of the world's population, are disabled [4,5]. Around one in five are born with a disability, while most acquire their disability after age 16, mainly during their working lives [6]. The vast majority (80%) live in developing countries [7], two-thirds in the Asia-Pacific region [8]. There are now more than 325 million disabled women and girls in the world, most of whom live in rural areas of developing or resource-poor countries [9]. However, a detailed global picture on how gender and disability intersect is not yet possible as data collection and research has been extremely limited and often clouded by factors that resist quantification, such as the feminisation of poverty, cultural concepts of gender roles and sexual and reproductive rights, violence, abuse and other types of exploitation, such as child labor [10]. Regardless of country, the employment rates of disabled women are significantly lower than those of their male peers, and the activity gap between them is greater than that between disabled and non-disabled persons [11]. Worldwide, less than 25% of disabled women are in the workforce [12]. Disabled women earn less than their male counterparts. In developing countries, many disabled women have no income at all and are totally dependent on others for their very existence. In developed countries, the wage gap between disabled men and disabled women is as high as 39% [13] and while unionisation helps bridge the gap between disabled people and non-disabled people, it is not as effective in helping disabled women obtain a higher level of wages compared to their male peers [14]. The literacy rate for disabled women worldwide is estimated at one per cent. Statistics from individual countries and regions, while often higher, nonetheless confirm the gender inequalities [15,16]. In developing countries disabled boys attend school more frequently than do disabled girls [17].
Women and girls are at an increased risk of becoming disabled during their lives due to neglect in healthcare, poor workforce conditions, gender-based violence and harmful traditional practices [21]. Disabled women’s access to reproductive health care is minimal and as a result they suffer greater vulnerability to reproductive health problems [22]. For example, twenty million women a year are disabled as a consequence of pregnancy and childbirth. In the developing world, where cultural practices and poverty lead to forced and/or early marriages and early pregnancies, at least two million girls are disabled by the consequences of obstetric fistula [23]. Worldwide, an estimated 130 million women have experienced the disabling consequences of female genital mutilation (FGM) and an additional two million girls and women are being subjected to it each year [24]. The physical and psychological consequences of these practices range from mobility difficulties, impaired sexual function and infertility because of infection, to an increased risk of HIV infection [25]. Approximately half of the 40 million people living with HIV are women, and are now being infected at a higher rate than men. Seventy-seven per cent of all HIV-positive women in the world are African [26]. Eighty per cent of all people trafficked worldwide are women and girls [27]. Victims are tricked or coerced into various exploitative situations, including prostitution, other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour, begging, and slavery. Women and girls may be targeted by traffickers because of their ethnicity, race, disability or poverty [28]. Human trafficking studies have found that the proportion of child prostitutes who have mild developmental disabilities is six times greater than what might be expected from the incidence in the general population [29]. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2013 2013 -> International post doctoral research fellowship programme final report title of the research 2013 -> Seals Family History 1565 to 2004 2013 -> Rao bulletin 15 July 2013 html edition this bulletin contains the following articles 2013 -> R institute of technology school of foreign languages 2013 -> Provisional Programme – subject to change thursday 10th april 2013 -> June, 2013 National hiv testing Day Month Men’s Health Week Hurricane Safety Month 2013 -> In memory of the residents of the Parish Chesham Bois that served their country during wwii 2013 -> Federal contract awards in georgia april 2013 Download 1.17 Mb. Share with your friends:
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