Side Event at the Social Forum 2016
Co-organised by the International Disability Alliance (IDA), International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC) and the World YWCA, co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Chile
5th October 2016 – 8.15 to 9.45 am, Room 25
Watch our live stream of the side event here: www.treatybodywebcast.org/sforum
Follow live closed captioning here: synchshare.de/ida-cassandra
Side event on women, concept note .doc
More photographs from the side-event
Women with disabilities represent one in five women worldwide and 65% of the billion people with disabilities across the world. Yet, their voices remain quite silent in mainstream, gender and disability decision-making processes, as well as the gender- or disability- programming often lack to address their rights and needs.
The CRPD Convention recognizes that women and girls with disabilities are subject to multiple discrimination; and calls on States Parties to ensure the full development, advancement and empowerment of women with disabilities.
Over the past decade, the CEDAW and CRPD Committees, as well as the Special Rapporteurs on Violence against Women and on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities repeatedly acknowledged and expressed concerns on the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination to which women with disabilities are subject to.
The CRPD Committee recently published its General Comment n 3 on Women and girls with disabilities recognising that ‘women and girls with disabilities face barriers in most areas of life’.[1] The Committee particularly drew attention to situations of multiple and intersecting discrimination regarding the equal access to education, economic opportunities, social interaction, justice and equal recognition before the law, the ability to participate politically, and the ability to exercise control over their own lives across a range of contexts.
The Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Catalina Devandas, in her Thematic study on the right of persons with disabilities to participate in decision-making[2] pointed out specific historical barriers encountered by women and girls with disabilities to participate in public decision-making processes, including due to power imbalances within the disability- and gender- mechanisms and bodies; calling for special attention to guarantee their rights to participate actively and directly in all decision-making processes affecting their lives.
The side event aims to facilitate discussions and suggest concrete recommendations of social innovations to ensure a gender perspective in disability policies and a disability rights perspective in gender policies, as well as to propose concrete measures to promote empowerment of women with disabilities through education and employment.
Speakers:
- Theresia Degener, Member of the CRPD Committee - Overview on CRPD Committee General Comment 3
- Abia Akram, National Forum of Women with Disabilities of Pakistan - National experience
- Sophia Pierre - Antoine, YWCA of Haiti and World YWCA - Youth perspective
- Dwi Ariyani – Disability Rights Fund - Role of technical cooperation to strengthen meaning participation of women with disabilities
- Yeni Rosa Damayanti, Chairperson of the Indonesian Mental Health Association - Overview and sharing of experiences on the WIAD Conference 2016
English and French simultaneous interpretation were provided
International Sign interpretation was provided
Captioning can be followed at https://synchshare.de/ida-cassandra
Webcast live at www.facebook.com/InternationalDisabilityAllianceIDA
We thank the kind support from the African Disability Forum, Handicap International, Royal Dutch Kentali, and the World YWCA
Download the word document of Sophia Pierre - Antoine on Youth perspective (English, docx, 17.28 KB)
