Disability and Gender

The gender gap is particularly worsened by disability. Women with disabilities are known to be significantly disadvantaged given that they experience exclusion on account of their gender and their disability. According to estimates by WHO, women with disabilities constitute around 10 per cent of the world’s female population.[1] The World Bank cites that women with disabilities make up 75 per cent of the population with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries, and that 65 to 70 per cent of these women live in rural areas.[2] Women can be at a higher risk of disability than men for several reasons, including poor access to health services, particularly during pregnancies;[3] poor nutrition; poor working conditions; and gender-based violence. In general, disability tends to be higher and more serious among women in the age group 75 and above. This reflects the higher life expectancy of women and the development of more severe forms of disabilities, such as locomotor, hearing and sight disabilities.

Among persons with disabilities, women are less likely than men to have jobs. For example, in the countries of the European Union (EU), 49 per cent of women with disabilities and 61 per cent of men with disabilities are employed, compared to 64 per cent of non-disabled women and 89 per cent of non-disabled men. In the Republic of Korea, 20.2 per cent of disabled women and 43.5 per cent of disabled men are employed, compared to 49.2 and 71.1 per cent for non-disabled women and men, respectively.[4] In the ESCWA region, women with disabilities are generally among the more vulnerable and marginalized groups of society. In more conservative Arab communities, traditions and social norms trap women in an endless circuit of discrimination, thereby reducing their opportunities for marriage, their access to adequate education and rehabilitation, and their participation in economic and leisure activities.[5]