Women's Committee

What is the Women's Committee?

EDF Women’s Committee is composed of 12 members and 4 observers coming from all over Europe and representing different groups of women with disabilities and mothers of persons with disabilities.

A new committee is selected every four years after EDF's General Assembly, and approved by EDF's Executive.

The current committee has been selected for 2022-2026.

The role of the Committee is to mainstream gender in all our policies and documents, to raise awareness on the situation of women and girls with disabilities and to work towards the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in society in accordance with the Madrid Declaration on women and girls with disabilities adopted in November 2008.

The Women’s Committee ensures that our work towards the European Union and United Nations level takes into account the perspective of women and girls with disabilities. They meet at least twice a year.

Involvement in the feminist movement

The Women's Committee also supports our participation in the European Women’s Lobby (EWL). We have been a member of EWL since 2000.

The Women's Committee members also represent us as speakers and delegates to conferences and participate in events and meetings at the national, European and international levels.

Current work

At the EU level, the Committee provides its expertise for regarding the implementation and monitoring of the EU Gender Equality Strategy and Disability Strategy.

The Committee actively promotes the EU’s accession to the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention) as a step to combating violence against women and girls with disabilities.

The Committee also advocates for the adoption of the EU Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence inclusive of women and girls with disabilities, the criminalisation of forced sterilisation, and informs EDF's alternative report to the EU on issues of women and girls with disabilities.

More information

• 2023-2026 Work Plan EDF Women's Committee (Word document)
• 2024 Work Plan of the EDF's Women's Committee
• Report on EDF Women’s Committee work and achievements – 2023
• 2023 Work Plan of EDF Women's Committee (Word document)
• Our work on women and gender equality

Members:

Full members:

• Pirkko Mahlamäki (Finnish Disability Forum): Chair and Executive focal point
• Sara Rocha (European Council of Autistic People): Vice-chair
• Ana Peláez Narváez (Comité Español de Representantes de Personas con Discapacidad): Adviser
• Claire Desaint (Conseil Français des personnes Handicapées pour les affaires Européennes et internationales)
• Foteini Zafeiropoulou (National Confederation of Disabled People)
• Luisa Bosisio Fazzi (Italian Disability Forum)
• Senada Halilčević (Inclusion Europe)
• Karina Chupina (European Federation of Hard of Hearing)
• Elena Ratoi (European Network on Independent Living)
• Guadalupe Morales (European Network of (ex) Users and Survivors of Psychiatry)
• Louise Danielsson (European Union of the Deaf)
• Minna Kejonen (European Blind Union)

Observers

• Simona Aginskaite (Lithuanian Disability Forum)
• Sari Hirvonen-Skarbö (Euro-CIU)
• Isabell Rosenberg (Cerebral Palsy – European Communities Association)
• Fiona Ferris (Autism Europe)