International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1909. At the time, the experience of oppression and inequality among women in America spurred women’s organisations to become more vocal and active in their campaign.
Women’s Day has been celebrated every year ever since in many countries across the world. It is an event that is aimed at recognising women’s achievements, including their struggles for equality, peace and development.
Although a number of milestones in relation to women’s rights have been achieved, I feel that I could not let this particular event go by and not shed some light on the double disadvantages still experienced by disabled women.
The Malta Census of Population and Housing (2011) clearly shows that disabled women are at a greater disadvantage than disabled men in all the areas surveyed, including education, employment and relationships. Furthermore, disabled women are not only at a disadvantage when compared to disabled men but also when compared to non-disabled women. Disabled women experience a double disadvantage because we are both women and we are disabled.
Disability, in this article, refers to the lack of opportunities and the disabling barriers of prejudice, discrimination and social exclusion met by disabled people on a daily basis.
Throughout the years, disabled women suffered marginalisation from both the disabled people’s movement and also from the women’s movement.
This occurred because the women’s movement failed to realise the particular experiences of minority groups, including those of disabled women.
The disabled people’s movement was set up by physically disabled white men, thus leaving very little space for disabled women to voice their experiences. In fact, to date, research about the experience of disabled women is still rather scarce.
An area where disabled women experience a double disadvantage is that related to body image and sexuality. Western notions of attractiveness dictate that women must be young, of medium height, slim and non-disabled. Consequently, those women who do not match these characteristics are deemed unattractive.
The inability by some disabled women to have a ‘normal’ appearance, hold a feminine posture and look ‘sexy’ therefore lead to feelings of unattractiveness.
In turn, these perceptions further enhance the feelings of oppression experienced by disabled women.
Another experience in which disabled women encounter oppression is where domestic violence and rape are involved. International statistics show that a higher percentage of disabled women experience domestic violence when compared to the general population. The most common act of violence reported is the withholding of medication and assistive technologies.
Disabled women experience greater difficulties in reporting acts of violence because of the fear of losing their caregiver, who, in some cases, might also be the perpetrator, and the inability to communicate as a result of the disability.
Disabled women have the same hopes, anxieties, fears, aspirations as non-disabled women
Another reason why disabled women tend not to report such acts of violence is because they fear that they will not be taken seriously due to the widely held misconception that disabled woman are asexual and do not have husbands or partners.
In addition, most shelter homes where these women could go in order to seek refuge are inaccessible, a problem that adds insult to injury.
Disabled women also encounter a double disadvantage in the area of childbearing and motherhood.
While non-disabled women have the choice of whether or not to have a child, in the case of disabled women, these are still at a stage whereby they are faced with opposition and discouragement when putting forward their wish that they would like to have a child.
This opposition and discouragement towards child bearing could be stemming from medical discourse, which might still have at its core the belief that, for disabled women, there is a high risk of producing a baby with a serious impairment, or the risk of worsening an already ‘damaged’ body or the belief that a disabled mother will not be able to care for her own child.
What has been discussed above is only a handful of examples of how disabled women experience a double disadvantage because they are women and because they are disabled.
These issues also highlight the urgent need for policymakers and service providers to take into account the particular needs of disabled women.
However, above all, let’s not forget that disabled women have the same hopes, anxieties, fears, aspirations as non-disabled women do.
As a disabled woman myself, I hope that equal rights and opportunities are given to all disabled women allowing us to participate fully in a modern society.
Amy Camilleri Zahra is a researcher and disability activist.