"Girls
with disabilities have the lowest education participation rates of all social
groups, and they have few opportunities for vocational training, all of which
further contributes to their low employment rates."
EDUCATION FOR GIRLS
WITH DISABILITIES - END BARRIERS - ENABLE RIGHTS
International
Day of the Girl: Focus on Education – Missing Stories of Girls with
Disabilities
By Stephanie Ortoleva, President, Women Enabled, Inc.
The United Nations has designated October 11
as International Day of the Girl, with a focus on Education. But as I
read many well-written and strong feminist posts on this issue, the concerns of
millions of girls with disabilities are missing from the dialog. Who are
the missing girls? The deaf girl in India who attends a school for deaf
children and who was raped by her teachers. The blind girl in the United
States who wants to be a scientist, but is not permitted to take the classes
and who is told a blind person can’t be a scientist, especially not a blind
girl. The girl with a disability in Pakistan whose parents keep her at
home and will not even let her attend school because they are ashamed.
These are only a few of the untold stories. But The statistics about
education of girls with disabilities tells us even more starkly.
Estimates
of the percentage of children with disabilities not attending school are
extremely variable. However, in general, children with disabilities are
less likely to start school and have lower rates of staying and being promoted
in school than their peers without disabilities. The correlation between
low educational outcomes and having a disability is often stronger than the
correlations between low educational outcomes and other characteristics such as
gender, rural residence or poverty. The limited statistics that are
available indicate that although the literacy rate for adults with disabilities
is 3%, only 1%
of women with disabilities are literate, based on comprehensive research
completed by Harilyn Rousso for UNESCO. These percentages are
significantly lower than those for women in general. The UNESCO
Institute for Statistics reports: “In 2008, 796 million adults worldwide
(15 years and older) reported not being able to read and write and two-thirds
of them (64%) were women. The global adult literacy rate was 83%, with a
male literacy rate of 88% and a female literacy rate of 79%.
In 2010, According to a journal article by Francis Huebler,
this statistic improved marginally to a male literacy rate of 89% and a female
literacy rate of 80%, with the percent differential between the genders
remaining the same.
The
World
Bank and World Health Organization Report states that out of the 51
countries included in the analysis, “50.6% of males with disability have completed
primary school, compared with 61.3% of males without disability. Females with
disability report 41.7% primary school completion compared with 52.9% of
females without disability, a difference of 8.9% between males and
females with disabilities.”
There
is a direct correlation between poverty, being a child with disabilities and
low education participation, with the girls with disabilities from lower
socio-economic backgrounds rarely attending school.
Girls
with disabilities have the lowest education participation rates of all groups
and they have few opportunities for vocational training, all of which further
contributes to their low employment rates.
Under international law our
participation is our human right. The United
Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in its Article 7 onChildren with Disabilities and
its Article 24 on Education focus on the girl child with a disability and her
right to education.
The United
Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) in its Articles 10,
guarantee to all women and girls the right to education. Furthermore, in
several of its General Recommendations, the CEDAW Committee has specifically
addressed the rights of women and girls with disabilities and the Final
Conclusions from the 55th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of
Women, which focused on women and education
and employment in the STEM fields, specifically incorporated these rights for
women and girls with disabilities. Thus, the synergy between the CRPD and
the CEDAW is a vital tool for advancing our rights in this area.
Barriers to the participation of women and girls with disabilities
in education are based on culture, family structures, societal attitudes and
stereotypes, institutional systems, law and legal processes, economic
realities, patriarchy and paternalism. Specific barriers include:
- • Cultural bias -
Often, women are denied education because it is believed that they will
become wives and mothers and such resources are provided to male
children. But for women with disabilities, are often seen as
unlikely to assume such roles, and thus are the last to receive family
resources.
- • Double discrimination - Women and girls with disabilities face double or
intersectional discrimination based on both gender and disability (as well
as other identities) and stereotypical attitudes based thereon further
limit our opportunities.
- • Invisibility - Girls
with disabilities are often kept in the home and their births may not be
registered, making them invisible to the education system, either because
of assumptions about our abilities or embarrassment on the part of our families.
Additionally, misconceptions about our abilities may make us invisible to
teachers even if we attend school.
- • Violence against women and girls with disabilities - Women and girls with disabilities are more
likely to experience gender-based violence than their non-disabled
sisters, sometimes because we are erroneously perceived as sick, helpless,
asexual, and powerless, or on the other hand, we are seen as hypersexual
or just lucky to have sexual experiences at all wherever we can because we
are undesirable. Additionally, women and girls with disabilities
living in residential facilities or schools are even more likely to
experience such abuse.
- • Pregnancy, HIV-infection and other results of sexual
assault and rape - As a result of
sexual violence and rape, women and girls with disabilities may become
pregnant or contract sexually transmitted diseases from the abuser.
- • Bullying and teasing - Disabled
girls are sometimes subjected to bullying and teasing by their peers based
on both our gender and our disability, negatively impacting our emotional
and cognitive development, as well as causing low self esteem
- • Economic resources for Education - Male education is prioritized as it is believed
that a male child can contribute financially to the family, and women and
girls with disabilities are not viewed as worthy of an education since
many assume their disabilities will preclude success.
- Schools in inaccessible locations and/or lack of
transportation - Schools that provide
special education and/or education for children with disabilities in
integrated settings are often located in cities and families are
reluctant to send daughters to the city or there is no accessible
transport to such schools. Boys are often seen as more independent
and permitted to travel to urban locations.
- • Access to assistive technology and
rehabilitation – Men and boys have
greater access to such services.
- • Accessibility of school facilities – Often the school buildings and facilities
themselves are inaccessible, posing yet another barrier.
- • Accessible toileting facilities and assistance in
toileting - Provision of toileting
assistance places a particular burden on women and girls with
disabilities, especially with respect to menstruation which is often a
taboo topic and access to appropriate hygiene products is non-existent or
in very short supply resulting in increased isolation for women and girls
with disabilities and further impairs their ability to attend school or
work.
- • Availability of special education – Girls with disabilities are less likely to
receive special education, in some instances because teachers expect more
from boys than girls and sometimes because girls, who may be less likely
to act out due to cultural control pressures, are not referred for
services based on a learning or other disability. And even if a girl
receives special education services she may be tracked toward pursuing
traditional gender-identified career paths.
- • Competitive classroom climate and teaching strategies – Competitive educational approaches are
challenging to some girls with disabilities. Mainly for the same
reasons discussed earlier, like bullying, being outnumbered by males in
the classroom, and low self-esteem. In addition, many teachers are
trained to teach more life skills to students with disabilities rather
than focus on competitive subjects.
- • Digital divide – Women
and girls with disabilities are at the bottom of the digital divide and
the least likely to have access to technology.
- • Belief that girls do not do math and science – We are presumed not to have aptitude in
these subjects and are steered into gender stereotypical subjects, as well
as the “talent myth” which is based on the erroneous assumption that
skills in STEM fields are an innate aptitude and cannot be learned.
- • Counselling based on stereotypical roles for women
and girls – Counsellors often
steer girls with disabilities toward gender-stereotyped jobs and generally
they are less likely to afford girls with disabilities vocational education
and many counsellors hold the incorrect societal perception that girls
with disabilities have limited aptitude or interest in STEM and other
challenging subjects.
- • Girls with and without disabilities have limited
interaction - Both groups would
benefit from such interactions, as they contribute to networking and peer
support, and reduction of fear and stigma.
- • Absence of women with disabilities as role models – The invisibility of women with disabilities in
educational materials, as educators, in the workplace and in the media
creates a dearth of positive role models for women and girls with
disabilities.
- • Shortage of women with disabilities as mentors – Having a responsive and supportive mentor
makes the world of difference for academic and professional success and
increased self-esteem.
Let’s
spread the facts and then, let’s change them!
For more information, see Stephanie
Ortoleva’s chapter on this subject in the forthcoming book: Asha Hans, Editor,
“Women and Girls with Disabilities – Global Perspectives,” Sage Publications,
2014 (ordering information will be on the Women enabled, Inc. website in
the Reading and Listening room.), Also see the Women Enabled, Inc. website in
the “Education
and Employment in Science, Technology, engineering and Math” section and the Publications Section for several other
articles on women and girls with disabilities..