The rights of women and girls with disabilities are neglected in the EU Roadmap for Women’s Rights, a flagship initiative presented on 7 March. This means that more than 1 in 4 women will still be left behind in EU decision-making processes.
We recognise that the EU Roadmap for Women’s Rights is an important political declaration in the face of increasing pushback against women’s rights. However, even though we called on Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib and the relevant services in the European Commission to ensure the Roadmap explicitly includes women with disabilities, we seemed to have been left at the curb.
The Roadmap was an occasion to work towards an inclusive future, highlighting intersectionality and putting women in all their diversity at the heart of key policies enhancing their rights. However, it lacks fundamental actions to protect marginalised groups, including the rights of women and girls with disabilities:
- No reference to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), nor any mention to meaningful inclusion and leadership in decision-making of women and girls with disabilities, including by enhancing accessibility measures for the participation of women and girls with disabilities in all issues, and investing in their leadership.
- No actions to ban and end forced sterilisation of women with disabilities, and to ensure ambitious transposition and implementation of the Directive on combating violence against women, and of the Istanbul Convention.
- No concrete targeted actions to reduce the poverty level faced by women with disabilities, including through equal employment and pay measures, and ensuring the amount of disability allowances received by women and girls with disabilities are kept regardless of employment status or the financial means of their partners and families.
The failure to include women and girls with disabilities in the Roadmap on women’s rights is inexcusable and incomprehensible
The Commission will soon launch a consultation for a next Gender Equality Strategy. It will be critical to ensure, protect, and promote the rights of women with disabilities in all their diversity.
Pirkko Mahlmäki, chair of the EDF’s Women’s Committee said, on behalf of the Committee:
Women and girls with disabilities cannot be left behind anymore. It is crucial that women and girls with disabilities are meaningfully included in the upcoming Gender Equality Strategy.