Marking 8 March – International Women’s Day – the European Disability Forum (EDF) and its Women’s Committee recall that women and girls with disabilities continue to face numerous forms of discrimination, abuse and violence all over Europe and in the world.
We find ourselves still fighting for equal wages, sexual and reproductive rights, and against violence, abuses, sexual exploitation, and overall, a world created for abled men. it is clear that the pushback of women’s rights remains a reality. For women with disabilities, it means unemployment; in-work and out-of-work poverty; forced abortion, forced contraception and forced sterilisation; sexual exploitation; physical, psychological and economic violence; and lack of civil and political representation among many other issues.
Today and every day we stand with the women’s movement to defend the rights of women in all their diversity.
In 2023, we call on the EU and all its Member States to act urgently in three areas:
1. Violence against women: the EU and Member States must take concrete steps to combat violence against women:
- Include the perspectives of women and girls with disabilities in all initiatives to combat gender-based violence, collect gendered data and make enquiries and research on violence against women.
- Criminalise forced sterilisation under the proposed Directive on combating violence against women.
- Conclude the EU’s accession of the Istanbul Convention and its swift implementation in EU countries.
2. Social policies: the EU and Member States must combat discrimination and social exclusion faced by women with disabilities. We call, particularly, for measures for full access to education and to promote access to work and to combat in work poverty. Women with disabilities must be fully and explicitly included in the Employment Package developed by the European Commission under the EU Disability Rights Strategy.
3. Civic and political participation: women with disabilities are also leaders and experts. During the year leading to the next European elections, the EU and Member States must support the civic and political engagement and participation of women with disabilities. All States must ensure and promote the right to vote and stand as a candidate of women with disabilities. Specific measures to combat online and offline harassment of candidates and violence against women in elections must urgently be adopted at EU and Member States level.
We will work this year on the Third EDF Manifesto on women with disabilities. It will reflect on the key challenges women and girls with disabilities continue to face and highlight our key asks and recommendations for a gender-equal Europe, in and beyond the disability movement. Time to stand for all women’s rights.