Women and Disability in the United States: a reference book
By Cindy Higgins, Research Information on Independent Living Project
A remarkable reference book examining disability issues as they relate to women in the United States has been produced by Lita Jans and Susan Stoddard of the Berkeley, California-based InfoUse company.
Chartbook on Women and Disability in the United States consists of seven sections, six of each addressing a significant aspect of women and disability, including disability throughout the life cycle; children and youth with disability; disability, work, in come and benefits; living arrangements, family life, and medical experiences; mental disorders and gender differences; and disability and aging. The seventh section identifies research gaps and topics for further investigation.
Created for use by both non-technical and technical audiences, each page within the seven sections contains a topic question, explanatory text on the topic, and an explanatory graphic or table that provides data in an easy to read form. The figure title gives the name of the graphic and provides a reference to a corresponding data table at the back of the chartbook. The source of the information and the survey used to collect the data appear at the bottom of the page. In many cases, information is provided on relevant Web site addres ses where more detailed information may be stored. The key surveys, shown as links when mentioned in the text, have a technical summary that is located in the appendix. In the text, key terms are also shown as links to their definitions in the glossary.
The following is a sample of the contents from the section on women and employment. The authors quote data which indicate that women often face "double jeopardy" in the workplace because of their gender and disability status. For instance:
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Less than one-quarter of women with severe disabilities had a job or business compared with 27.8% of men with a severe disability.
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A less severe disability resulted in 68.4% of women to be employed or have a business versus 85.1% of men with comparable disability.
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Women with disabilities were represented the most in traditionally female-dominated professions, such as registered nurses, elementary and secondary teachers, and librarians.
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Women, with and without disabilities, had fewer jobs in the computer industries. If they did, they worked more in lower-paying jobs than as computer programmers or other highly-paid professionals.
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Women earned less than men in general, and the same was true when both populations had disabilities.
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Women with severe disabilities had the lowest earnings of any group with median monthly earnings of $1,000.
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Men with severe disabilities had higher earnings than women with non-severe disabilities.
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About 40% of women with a severe work disability lived in poverty.
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Of those who received work disability benefits from Social Security, more men received higher disabled worker benefits than women. Women with disabilities received lower rates then men.
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More than one-third of women with work disabilities received Medicaid benefits, compared with one-quarter of men.
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Women with disabilities also received more food stamps, public housing, subsidized housing, than men with disabilities. Benefits may be associated with women's lower earnings and their care of children under age 18.
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Vocational rehabilitation programs served more men than women (43.9% in 1996). Of cases closed with employment outcome, 45.1% were women and 54.9% were men.
The entire Chartbook on Women and Disability is available for downloading in PDF format at http://www.infouse.com/disabilitydata/womendisability.html. This project was supported by a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research in the U. S. Department of Education.
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