WUNRN
Women With Disabilities Australia -
WWDA
AUSTRALIA - GENDER & DISABILITY
- OVERVIEW OF STATUS
Gender
affects the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of their human
rights. Gender refers to the social differences and relations between men and
women which are learned, vary widely among societies and cultures, and change
over time. The term gender is used to analyse the roles, responsibilities,
constraints, opportunities and needs of women and men in all areas and in any
given social context. Gender roles are learned behaviours in a given society,
community or other social group. They condition which activities, tasks and
responsibilities are perceived as male or female. Gender roles are affected by
age, disability, class, race, ethnicity and religion, and by the geographical,
economic and political environment [1]. Gender-based assumptions and
expectations generally place women with disabilities at a disadvantage with
respect to substantive enjoyment of rights, such as freedom to act and to be
recognised as autonomous, fully capable adults, to participate fully in
economic, social and political development, and to make decisions concerning
their circumstances and conditions.
Gender
is one of the most important categories of social organisation [2], yet people
with disabilities are often treated as asexual, genderless human beings. This
view is borne out in Australian disability policies, which have consistently
failed to apply a gender lens. Most have proceeded as though there are a common
set of issues - and that men and women experience disability in the same way
[3].
However women with disabilities and men with disabilities have different life experiences due to biological, psychological, economic, social, political and cultural attributes associated with being female and male. Patterns of disadvantage are often associated with the differences in the social position of women and men. These gendered differences are reflected in the life experiences of women with disabilities and men with disabilities. Women with disabilities face multiple discriminations and are often more disadvantaged than men with disabilities in similar circumstances. Women with disabilities are often denied equal enjoyment of their human rights, in particular by virtue of the lesser status ascribed to them by tradition and custom, or as a result of overt or covert discrimination [4]. Women with disabilities face particular disadvantages in the areas of education, work and employment, family and reproductive rights, health, violence and abuse. For example:
Two million women with disabilities live in Australia, making up 20.1% of the population of Australian women. Women with disabilities continue to be one of the most excluded, neglected and isolated groups in Australian society, experiencing widespread and serious violations of their human rights. As a group, they experience many of the recognised markers of social exclusion - socioeconomic disadvantage, social isolation, multiple forms of discrimination, poor access to services, poor housing, inadequate health care, and denial of opportunities to contribute to and participate actively in society [39].
In Australia, women with disabilities bear a disproportionate burden of poverty, are less likely to be in paid work than other women, disabled men or the population as a whole. There has been no improvement in the unemployment rate of women with disabilities for more than a decade, and where they are employed, women with disabilities experience significant and systemic discrimination [40]. Women with disabilities are less likely than their male counterparts to receive adequate vocational rehabilitation or gain entry to labour market programs. They earn less than disabled men, are in the lowest income earning bracket, yet pay the highest level of their gross income on housing, and spend a greater proportion of their income on medical care and health related expenses. When women with disabilities work, they often experience unequal hiring and promotion standards, unequal access to training and retraining, unequal access to credit and other productive resources, unequal pay for equal work and occupational segregation, and they rarely participate in economic decision-making [41].
Women with disabilities have difficulty finding accessible housing, are more likely to be institutionalised than their male counterparts and are often forced to live in situations in which they experience, or are at risk of experiencing, violence, abuse (including the use of chemical and physical restraints) and neglect [42]. The rising cost of housing means that women with disabilities, with less financial resources at their disposal than disabled men, are particularly vulnerable to living in insecure or inadequate housing [43]. Women with disabilities and their children are particularly affected by the lack of affordable housing, due to the major gap in overall economic security across the life-cycle, and to their experience of gender-based violence which leads to housing vulnerability, including homelessness [44].
Women with disabilities are denied their right to freedom from exploitation, violence and abuse - they experience alarmingly high rates of all forms of violence and abuse from a range of perpetrators yet remain excluded from violence prevention legislation, policies, services and supports. They continue to be assaulted, raped and abused at a rate of at least two times greater than other women, and are at greater risk of severe forms of intimate partner violence. Women with disabilities are denied their right to bodily integrity, to control their own bodies and to be free from interventions - evidenced by the practices of forced sterilisation, menstrual suppression, forced contraception and coerced abortion. Compared to other women, disabled women are less likely to receive appropriate health services and are significantly more likely to face medical interventions to control their fertility. Women and girls with disabilities are more likely to be unlawfully sterilised than their male counterparts. They are less likely to have children, more likely to experience marriage breakdown and divorce, and more likely to be single parents [45].
Many women with disabilities are excluded from participating in decisions that affect their lives on a daily basis, particularly for example, as active partners in their own health care. They are often stereotyped as passive, asexual, dependent, compliant, sick, child-like, incompetent and helpless, powerless or insecure [46, 47, 48, 49, 50]. Alternatively, women with developmental disabilities in particular may be regarded as overly sexual, creating a fear of profligacy and the reproduction of disabled babies, often a justification for their sterilisation. These perceptions, although very different, often result in women with disabilities being denied the right to participate in decision-making processes that affect their lives.
Women with disabilities are denied the right to experience their sexuality, to have sexual relationships and to found and maintain a family. They experience discriminatory attitudes and widely held prejudicial assumptions which question their ability and indeed, their right to experience parenthood. They have their babies and children removed by child welfare authorities without evidence of abuse, neglect and/or parental incapacity, and lose their children in custody disputes simply because they are women with disabilities [51].
Despite the work of WWDA, women with disabilities in Australia still remain largely invisible and voiceless, often ignored by national policies and laws. Their issues and needs are often overlooked within broader government services and programs. The exclusion of women with disabilities from support services, social and economic opportunities and participation in community life, has been well documented [52]. Women with disabilities have a significantly high level of unmet need for services and support to enable them to live independently and with dignity in the community [53]. They have less access to community health programs, such as breast and cervical screening services than any other group of women, and as a group, are excluded from national women's health policies and programs.
[1]
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
(2000) Gender Equality and Equity. A summary review of UNESCO's
accomplishments since the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing 1995).
UNESCO, Paris, France.
[2] Arnade, S. & Haefner, S. (2006) Gendering
the Draft Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on the Protection
and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. Legal
background paper. Published by Disabled Peoples� International (DPI), Berlin.
[3] Gray, G. (2010 draft) By Women for
Women, the Australian women's health movement and public policy.
(forthcoming).
[4] UN Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment No. 16: The Equal Right of Men and
Women to the Enjoyment of All Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Art. 3
of the Covenant), 11 August 2005, E/C.12/2005/4.
[5] Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA)
(2007b) 'Forgotten Sisters - A global review of violence against women with
disabilities'. WWDA Resource Manual on Violence Against Women With
Disabilities. Published by WWDA, Tasmania, Australia.
[6] Meekosha, H. (2004) Gender and
Disability. Entry for the Sage Encyclopaedia of Disability. Available on
line at: http://wwda.org.au/gendis2001.htm
[7] WWDA (2007b) Op Cit.
[8] Commonwealth of Australia (2009) Time
for Action: The National Council's Plan for Australia to Reduce Violence
against Women and their Children, 2009-2021. Department of Families,
Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA), Canberra.
[9] See Preamble [q] of UN General Assembly, Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: resolution/adopted by the
General Assembly, 24 January 2007, A/RES/61/106.
[10]Groce, N. (2006) People with
Disabilities, in Social Justice and Public Health, Barry S. Levy &
Victor Sidel (Eds), accessed online April 2011 at:
http://www.aidslex.org/site_documents/DB-0018E.pdf
[11] Meekosha, H. (2004) Op Cit.
[12] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010) Australia's Implementation of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Independent
Report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Accessed online July 2010 at: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cedaw/cedaws46.htm.
[13]See: Australian Institute of Health &
Welfare (AIHW) (2009) Disability support services 2007 - 08. National
data on services provided under the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability
Agreement. Disability series. Cat. no. DIS 56.Canberra: AIHW.
[14] Arnade, S. & Haefner, S. (2006) Op
Cit.
[15] WWDA (2009) Submission to the
National Human Rights Consultation. WWDA, Tasmania. Available online at:
http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[16] Meekosha, H. (2004) Op Cit.
[17] WWDA (2008) Submission to the
Parliamentary Inquiry into pay equity and associated issues related to
increasing female participation in the workforce. WWDA, Tasmania. Available
online at: http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[18] O'Reilly, A. (2007) The right to decent
work of persons with disabilities. International Labour Office (ILO),
Geneva.
[19] Arnade, S. & Haefner, S. (2006) Op
Cit.
[20] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[21] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[22] UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
(2008) Progress of the World's Women 2008/2009: Who Answers to Women?
Gender & Accountability. Available at:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4a09773a2.html [accessed 2 August 2009]
[23] Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission (HREOC), (2005) National Inquiry into Employment and Disability;
Issues Paper 1: Employment and Disability - The Statistics; HREOC, Sydney.
[24] Australian Government (2008) Australian
Public Service Commissioner Annual Report 2007-08, viewed 21 September
2009, http://www.apsc.gov.au/annualreport/0708/report.pdf
[25] Meekosha, H. (2004) Op Cit.
[26] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[27] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[28] Arnade, S. & Haefner, S. (2006) Op
Cit.
[29] World Health Organization (2009) Promoting
sexual and reproductive health for persons with disabilities, WHO/UNFPA
Guidance Note 2009, accessed on line April 2011 at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598682_eng.pdf
[30] Brady, S., Briton, J. & Grover, S.
(2001) The Sterilisation of Girls and Young Women in Australia: Issues and
Progress. A report commissioned by the Federal Sex Discrimination
Commissioner and the Disability Discrimination Commissioner; Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission, Sydney, Australia. Available online at
http://www.wwda.org.au/brady2.htm
[31] WWDA (2009) Parenting Issues for
Women with Disabilities in Australia: A Policy Paper. WWDA, Tasmania.
Available online at: http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[32] Steele, L. (2008) Making sense of the
Family Court's decisions on the non-therapeutic sterilisation of girls with
intellectual disability; Australian Journal of Family Law, Vol.22, No.1.
[33] Meekosha, H. (2004) Op Cit.
[34] Ortoleva, S. (2011) Recommendations
for Action to Advance the Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities in the
United Nations system; accessed online April 2011 at:
http://sites.google.com/site/womenenabled/
[35] United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) (2010) Political Participation of Women with Disabilities in
Cambodia: Research Report 2010, accessed online April 2011 at:
http://www.un.org.kh/undp/knowledge/publications/political-participation-of-women-with-disabilities-in-cambodia
[36] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[37] Groce, N. (2006), Op Cit.
[38] Committee of Ministers of the Council of
Europe (2009) Declaration: Making gender equality a reality. 119th
Session of the Committee of Ministers, Madrid, 12 May 2009.
[39] WWDA (2009) Submission to the
National Human Rights Consultation. WWDA, Tasmania. Available online at:
http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[40] WWDA (2010) 'Women With Disabilities
& The Human Right to Health: A Policy Paper'. WWDA, Tasmania. Available
online at: http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[41] O'Reilly, A. (2003) 'Employment
Barriers for Women with Disabilities' in The Right to Decent Work of Persons
with Disabilities; IFP/Skills Working Paper No. 14, International Labour
Organization (ILO).
[42] WWDA (2009) Submission to the
National Human Rights Consultation. WWDA, Tasmania. Available online at:
http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[43] Cited in: Australian Human Rights
Commission (2010), Op Cit.
[44] Australian Human Rights Commission
(2010), Op Cit.
[45] WWDA (2009) Submission to the
National Human Rights Consultation. WWDA, Tasmania. Available online at:
http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[46] See for eg: Curry, M. et al (2001) Abuse
of women with disabilities: An ecological model and review. Violence Against
Women, Vol. 7, No. 1.
[47] See for eg: Carlson, B. (1997) Mental
retardation and domestic violence: An ecological approach to intervention. Social
Work, Vol.42, No.1.
[48] See for eg: Crawford, D. & Ostrove,
J. (2003) Representations of Disability and the Interpersonal Relationships of
Women with Disabilities. Women & Therapy, Vol. 26, No.3/4.
[49] See for eg: Chang, J. et al (2003)
Helping Women with Disabilities and Domestic Violence: Strategies, Limitations
and Challenges of Domestic Violence Programs and Services. Journal of
Women's Health, Vol.12, No.7.
[50] See for eg: Calderbank, R. (2000) Abuse
and Disabled People: vulnerability or social indifference? Disability &
Society, Vol.15, No.3.
[51] WWDA (2009) Parenting Issues for
Women with Disabilities in Australia: A Policy Paper. WWDA, Tasmania.
Available online at: http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[52] WWDA (2009) Submission to the National
Human Rights Consultation. WWDA, Tasmania. Available online at:
http://www.wwda.org.au/subs2006.htm
[53] Ibid.