Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt

S CHWERPUNKTTHEMAEnsuring Inclusion of Women withDisabilities in Gender and DisabilityPoliciesAs new disability policies and improved genderpolicies are rolled out across the Asia-Pacific region,an important question to ask upfront is:How and where do gender and disability policiesintersect? How will gender policies effectivelyincorporate the needs, experiences andviews of women with disabilities? How will disabilitypolicies mainstream women with disabilities,and effectively incorporate issues thatare a specific priority for women with disabilities?Development of joint frameworks that acknowledgethe links between gender and disabilityis one step in the right direction. Delineatingpolicy objectives and outcomes specificallyfor women with disabilities is another. In practicalterms, this may mean empowering womenwith disabilities to be engaged in gender and indisability policy development and in the monitoringof policy roll out.Some questions policy developers can askthemselves are:- Is mainstreaming an effective strategy for includingwomen with disabilities in genderand disability policy?- Are there additional strategies that can bedeployed alongside mainstreaming focusingspecifically on women with disability?- Have lessons from gender mainstreaming inother sectors been adequately absorbed sothat the similar oversights are avoided in disabilitypolicy?- Is it enough for disability policies to pledge acommitment to equal participation, contributionand benefit for men and women withdisabilities when women with disabilities experiencemarginalization and exclusion in diverseand different ways to men?The approach to disability has been steadilyshifting from a welfare model to a rights-basedand empowerment one, and this has been apparentin the increasing deployment of inclusiveand participatory policy development methodologies.For example, AusAID went about formulatingand articulating its disability policy byconsulting organizations of people with disabilitiesin the Asia-Pacific region. The result is astrategy underpinned by a commitment to theattainment of human rights rather than a focuson service delivery.Similarly, policies in both the gender anddisability sectors can do more to ensure womenwith disabilities have a voice in its development.This could include:- Engaging women with disabilities in dialogueand decision-making in both the areasof gender and disability policy prioritization.- Collecting adequate disaggregated data onwomen with disabilities and building localcapacity to do this effectively, so that policy isinformed by evidence.- Focusing on the financial, attitudinal andphysical barriers that prevent equal access(bearing in mind that women with disabilitiesface different obstacles to women withoutdisabilities and men).- Strengthening the leadership of organizationsspecifically representing the experiencesand interests of women with disabilities.- Increasing the capacity of women with disabilitiesto represent themselves in both disabilityand gender interest groups.- Create mechanisms for accountability inboth sectors and including women with disabilitiesin all aspects of this process.- Developing a specific policy addressing thekey concerns of women with disabilities, andensuring these are well integrated into bothdisability and gender policies.Moving ForwardA review of the literature suggests that womenwith disabilities are not being effectively includedin gender policies. Their specific concernsmay not also be adequately addressedwith disability policies alone. Ensuring that theinteraction between gender and disability isconsidered in policy development may be oneway of providing equity for women with disabilities.Another is by including women withdisabilities in gender policies. In addition, genderand disability silos could be broken downby articulating unique policies addressing thekey concerns of women with disabilities. Thisarticle puts forwards some issues for policy developersto consider with regard to more effectiveinclusion. However, by far, the most importantmeans of ensuring women with disabilitiesare being included is by ensuring they play acentral role in both the process and the outcomeof all gender and disability policies.32 Zeitschrift Behinderung und Dritte Welt 3/2009