Bringing disabled women together, mobilising
and sharing through lived experiences
Recommendations on disabled women for the UK Govt from CEDAW committee
reposted –
Read the recommendations at:
(to follow in its entirety read the CEDAW page.)
Below are all the recommendations that mention disabled women….
20. The Committee is concerned that the austerity measures introduced by the State party have resulted in serious cuts in funding for organisations providing social services to women, including those providing for women only. The Committee is concerned that these cuts have had a negative impact on women with disabilities and older women. ….
21. The Committee urges the State party to mitigate the impact of austerity measures on women and services provided to women, particularly women with disabilities and older women. ….
42. While noting the increase in the representation of women in the public sector, the Committee is concerned that women continue to be significantly underrepresented in certain fields, including in parliament, in the judiciary and on public sector boards. The Committee is particularly concerned at the low representation of black and minority ethnic women and women with disabilities in political life.
43. The Committee calls upon the State party:
(a) Continue to take concrete targeted measures to improve the representation of women in Parliament and the judiciary, particularly black and ethnic minority women and women with disabilities; and….
46. The Committee recalls its previous concluding observations of 2008 (A/63/38, paras. 286 and 287) and appreciates the State party’s efforts to provide flexible working arrangements for women and men, and to introduce shared parental leave envisaging new legislation in 2015. The Committee is concerned at reports of persistent discrimination of pregnant women in employment and their access to justice. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned at existing occupational segregation and persisting gender pay gap, and the high unemployment rates of women with disabilities. ……
47. The Committee recommends that the State party should:
(c) Create more opportunities for women with disabilities to access employment; ….
52. The Committee is concerned at reports that women with disabilities, older women, asylum seeking women and Traveller women face obstacles in accessing medical healthcare. The Committee is particularly concerned that women with disabilities face limited accessibility to pre-natal care and reproductive health services.
53. The Committee urges the State party to:
(a) Strengthen the implementation of programmes and policies aimed at providing effective access for women to health-care, particularly to women with disabilities, older women, asylum-seeking and Traveller women;
(b) Pay special attention to the health needs of women with disabilities, ensuring their access to prenatal care and all reproductive health services; and …
54. The Committee recalls its previous concluding observations (A/63/38, paras. 266 and 267) and notes the measures taken to address the recommendations in the Corston report on women in the administration of criminal justice. ….
The Committee is also concerned at women’s limited access to mental health care in prisons, and at the over-representation of black and ethnic minority women in prison.
55. Recalling its previous recommendation, the Committee urges the State party to:
…(c) Improve the provision of mental health care in all prisons;
62. The Committee notes the reforms to the welfare benefit system in order to consolidate benefits and tax credits into a single payment under the Universal Credit system. However, it is concerned that, under the Universal Credit system, benefits and tax credits will be paid into a bank account of one member of the family, which poses risks of financial abuse for women due to power imbalances in the family, particularly if payment is made to an abusive male spouse…
63. The Committee urges the State party to adopt preventive measures against potential exploitation of the Universal Credit system by an abusive male spouse…..(something that we also raised for disabled women)
Statement for CEDAW Comittee Status of Women with Disabilities in the Republic of Serbia
Lepojka Čarević
Many thanks to Lepojka Čarević who kindly allowed us to publish this oral statement at the CEDAW 55th Session
Madam Chair and Members of the Committee,
I am woman with disability and I represent four organizations of women with disabilities, who participated in writing of Shadow report. At the top of these organizations is the union “Network … OUT OF CIRCLE – Serbia” whose mission is to improve the position of women with disabilities and the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination.
Our Shadow report covers the situation of women with disabilities in Serbia in all spheres of social life, but I want to particularly draw attention to two areas:
The first area of discrimination against women with disabilities is the state’s response to sexual violence. The crime “rape” in our Criminal code does not apply when victims are women with disabilities. Crime that is used here is “sexual intercourse with defenseless person” where the prescribed sentence is less than for raping. For women with disabilities cannot be applied the Family low measure of “eviction abuser from the apartment”, because they depend on the abuser in performing everyday functions (getting up, dressing, toilet …). In Serbia, still there are no support services for them to meet these needs. They cannot get away anywhere, and the existing safe houses are not accessible and do not accommodate them. Institutions where they ask for protection are not accessible and social benefits do not give them priority in realization.
The second area is to protect the reproductive health of women with disabilities. The use of these rights is extremely difficult to implement, because of the prejudice that they are asexual, that they do not need to have sex; they do not need to give birth. There are only 9 gynecological hydraulic chairs, and one mammography available for women with disabilities in the health centers.
Lepojka Čarević
Oral Statement (CAPE VERDE) to CEDAW Committee 55th session (from disabled women association)
Where Cape Verde is concerned, the only NGO here was from a disabled women association! We thank them for their statement which shows how similar is the discrimination is against disabled women globally
Committee of Women with Disabilities of Capeverdean Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities
Good afternoon Madam Chair and Members of the CEDAW Committee,
I am Jandira Monteiro, reading the following statement on behalf of MARIA NALDI DA VEIGA who is present here but is Portuguese-speaking.
Maria represents the Committee of Women with Disabilities of the Capeverdean Federation of Associations of Persons with Disabilities and three Groups of Non-Governmental Women’s Organizations.
We would like to highlight the following issues concerning women and girls with disabilities:
- the lack of inclusive and quality education;
- there is no equal employment opportunities for women with disabilities compared to men with disabilities and women without disabilities;
- the forced sterilization which is a form of violence against women and girls with disability;
- lack of special assistance mechanisms to have full access to justice and protection mechanisms especially in reporting cases of violence against women
- the experience of multiple discrimination based both on gender, disability and other systemic of historic discrimination. Due to this intersectionality, they often face inequality in access, opportunities and benefits
Although the right to education for all children is safeguarded in the Article 36 of the basic law on education of Cape Verde, girls with disabilities are excluded and have their right to education violated. The participation of the female students is 44% and for boys is 56% according to the gender assessment from 2009. If, in general terms, it appears that girls and women are at disadvantage relatively to boys/men with the regard to the rate of school attendance in Cape Verde, this disadvantage is even more pronounced when we talk about girls/women with disabilities. Girls with disabilities are excluded from the education system, either by the family that often overprotects or underestimates or by the system that is not comprehensive or affordable.
The provision of reasonable accommodation and accessibility in general, by widening access programs to the professional and work world, both in access to vocational training and employment opportunities also emphasized as necessary. Women with disabilities reported discrimination in access to job, employment and income generation. As a result, more women, particularly women with disabilities often feel trapped in abusive relationships because there are no effective measures to survive independently if they decide to leave such a relationship.
In Cape Verde, there is the practice of sterilization of women with disabilities, especially women with psychosocial disabilities without the informed consent of the concerned person.
The Government of Cape Verde should create conditions to ensure communication in Braille and sign language including other necessary assistive mechanisms for women and girls with disabilities in order for them to be systematically consulted and actively involved in the formulation of laws, policies and strategies relating to them in all areas.
The Constitution of the Republic of Cape Verde does not provide a comprehensive definition of discrimination against women with disabilities. It is critical that the Government of Cape Verde to recognize in our Constitution and ordinary laws that denial of reasonable accommodation is considered a form of discrimination. The denials of reasonable accommodation are lack of braille programme, no official recognition of sign language, lack of accessibility to public and private buildings including other necessary assistive mechanisms.
The State should take steps towards changing societal attitudes by increasing awareness about the rights of women and girls with disabilities with the appropriate public and private actors, through better information, education and training.
There is a lack of available data and studies on the violence against women and girls with disabilities. Hence, it is crucial to prioritise a comprehensive database on women with disabilities in Cape Verde.
Thank you!
