Canberra ACT Disability Info: International Women's Day 2014

People with Disability Australia

International Women's Day

Friday 7 March 2014

Did you know that women work two thirds of the world's working hours, yet receive only 10% of its income? Or that women are more at risk of experiencing rape and domestic violence than cancer, traffic accidents, war or malaria?

Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and we celebrate achievements in the progress towards gender equality, and mark the distance yet to travel.

Globally, women with disability continue to face higher levels of abuse and violence, and more extensive discrimination than women without disability. Their contribution to their families, communities and countries is often underestimated, under-recognised and under-paid. Women with disability frequently struggle to access educational and economic opportunities, resulting in economic forms of dependence which deny their agency.

UN Women's Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka gives 2014's International Women's Day speech.

Yet many women with disability also take up leadership positions within their communities, nationally and internationally.

"Countries with more gender equality have better economic growth. Companies with more women leaders perform better. Peace agreements that include women are more durable. Parliaments with more women enact more legislation on key social issues such as health, education, anti-discrimination and child support. The evidence is clear: equality for women means progress for all." Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary General of the UN, 2014

Women with disability in Australia

In Australia, only 16% of all women with disability are likely to have any secondary education compared to 28% of men with disability. 51% of women with a disability earn less than $200 per week compared to 36% of men with disability. Men with disability are twice as likely to be in paid employment as women with disability. Open employment and disability employment services assist twice as many men with disability as women with disability.

Over one third of women with disability experience domestic or intimate partner violence. Although domestic violence is rarely talked about as occurring in disability institutions, it is a frighteningly pervasive occurrence, with some studies reporting that up to 85% of women with disability living in institutions feel unsafe.

PWDA and the rights of women and girls with disability

PWDA has a long history of advocating for change for women and girls with disability. Since 2012 PWDA has been working with Women with Disabilities Australia (WWDA) and the University of New South Wales on the Stop the Violence Project (STVP). The STVP gathered an evidence base on violence prevention and response for women and girls with disability, and presented this evidence at the STVP National Symposium, which was held at the Australian Human Rights Commission on the 25 October 2013. The STVP website includes audio and transcripts of all the presentations made throughout the day by women with disability, other experts and professionals. This event has resulted in further public conversation regarding violence against women and girls with disability. The outcomes should inform the current development of the Second Action Plan for the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Their Children.

WWDA and PWDA have collaborated for over two decades regarding advocacy against the forced sterilisation of women and girls with disability. In March 2013 we made a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the Involuntary or Coerced Sterilisation of People with Disabilities in Australia and facilitated the involvement of women with disability in the Senate's consultation process. WWDA also made a submission and assisted women with disability to tell their stories. The Inquiry Report was released on 25 October 2013.

In September 2013 PWDA was part of the Australian civil society delegation to the UN in Geneva, representing the voice of people with disability in Australia during the review of Australia's progress in implementing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). WWDA also participated in this delegation. The delegation raised the issue of forced or coerced non-therapeutic sterilisation, and the Concluding Observations by the Committee for the CRPD urged Australia 'to adopt uniform national legislation prohibiting the sterilization of boys and girls with disabilities, and adults with disabilities, in the absence of their prior, fully informed and free consent'.

PWDA will continue to fight for the sexual and reproductive rights of women and girls with disability everywhere.

PWDA is also an official partner of the White Ribbon campaign to end men's violence against women. White Ribbon Australia seeks to change the attitudes and behaviours that lead to and perpetuate men's violence against women, by engaging boys and men to lead social change.

Training and Education

PWDA provides a range of training and education programs that deal with rights, violence, sexual assault, and domestic violence.

For example, the Responding to Sexual Assault training is directed to service providers, and is designed to support them to provide appropriate and accessible support and care to people with disability who have experienced sexual violence or rape.

PWDA also offers training to service providers and women with intellectual disability about domestic violence. This is primarily a prevention program, specifically designed to prevent personal, intimate partner, domestic and sexual violence before it happens. It takes a broad approach, aimed at both service providers and women with intellectual disability, to ensure coherence in supporting women in their personal lives. This training was rolled out across Australia last year, and PWDA will be providing further sessions this year.

PWDA also coordinated the Sexual Assault in Disability and Aged Care (SADA) project which provides a framework for action in which organisations work together to protect vulnerable people in care settings, raise the awareness of the issues of sexual assault amongst people with disability, and older people in care in the wider community and provide resources and training.

International representation & participation

PWDA was at the forefront of civil society's involvement in the negotiation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), and strongly advocated for the rights of women and girls with disability to be recognised in a specific article as well as mainstreamed throughout the Convention. For example, see here to read the interventions made by PWDA in the 6^th and 7^th Ad Hoc sessions of the Convention negotiations.

PWDA also played a leadership role in the development of Disability Rights Now, the Australian Civil Society Report to the UN regarding Australia's progress in implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Issues and concerns for women and girls with disability in Australia are incorporated throughout this report, regarding forced sterilisation, violence, discrimination and inadequate access to healthcare, discrimination in employment and remuneration, and overrepresentation in the prison system.

Over the past fifteen years, PWDA has proudly supported the capacity-building of women leaders with disability from a range of Asia-Pacific countries, particularly through the Pacific Women's Committee of the Pacific Disability Forum (PDF). Our status as an organisation with special consultative status to the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) has allowed us to include emerging leaders with disability from the Pacific and Australia on a number of PWDA delegations to the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Conference of States Parties (COSP) to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in New York.

58^th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW 58)

The fifty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 10 to 21 March 2014. Representatives of Member States, including Australia, UN entities, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from all regions of the world attend the session.

The priority theme for this 58^th session is: Challenges and achievements in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for women and girls. The MDGs set out key areas of action to eradicate world poverty, and this agenda is critical for women and girls with disability.

Women with disability in Australia will be represented at this event by WWDA Vice-President, Margie Charlesworth. She will participate as part of the Australian Women Against Violence Alliances (AWAVA). PWDA congratulates Margie and wishes her well in this important task.

PWDA has a vision of a socially just, accessible, and inclusive community, in which the human rights, citizenship, contribution, potential and diversity of all people with disability are reocgnised, respected and celebrated. Realising gender equality is key to achieving this vision, and PWDA will continue to work towards equal rights for women and girls.

Links and Resources

International Women's Day

International Women's Day 2014 Theme: INSPIRING CHANGE

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/theme.asp

Check here to find an IWD event near you!

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/esearch.asp?country=13

UN Women Australia

https://unwomen.org.au

"Are we equal?" A 2011 campaign created with Dame Judi Dench and Daniel Craig as James Bond. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkp4t5NYzVM

Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia's Ambassador for Women and Girls, presents the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's 2014 release marking IWD https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivgfW0W0hEk

International Women Day Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women's_Day

International Women's Day Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/Internationalwomensday

People with Disability Australia

Individual and group advocacy service

http://www.pwd.org.au/what-we-do/individual-and-group-advocacy.html

Responding to sexual assault training

http://www.pwd.org.au/training/responding-to-sexual-assault-2-days.html

Domestic violence and women with intellectual disability training

http://www.pwd.org.au/training/domestic-violence-and-intellectual-disability.html

Advocacy against non-therapeutic sterilisation