The Women’s Committee of EDF met a day before the European Day of Persons with Disabilities in Brussels to discuss achievements of 2019 and activities for 2020. Before the meeting, they shared lunch with the Executive of the European Women’s Lobby at EDF office. In their afternoon meetings, members shared the activities taking place in their countries and agreed that there is an important need to continue raising the perspective of women and girls with disabilities at all levels. 2020 will be an important year. At the global level, the Committee will lead EDF involvement in the review of the Beijing Platform of Action – a global agenda for women’s rights. At the EU level, the Committee will provide its expertise for three important EU Strategies on gender equality, victim rights, and disability. They will also inform EDF alternative report to the EU on issues of women and girls with disabilities. The 2019 report of the activities of the Committee and workplan for 2020 will be published early next year.
Members of the Committee actively participated to the European Day of Persons with Disabilities on 28-29 November. They asked representatives of the European Institutions about consultation and inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in the evaluation of the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 and in preparation of the next Strategy, and collection of disaggregated data and statistics on violence against women and girls. Ana Pelaez, EDF Vice-President and Chair of the Women’s Committee, gave concluding remarks at the event calling for the EU to be much more ambitious on Disability policy and, crucially, to no longer ignore women with disabilities. “We are absent from the current EU Disability Strategy, and also from the Gender Equality Strategy. Enough is enough,” she said.