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table of contents - home page - text-only home page What is it about 'all' that you don't understand? Disabled Women in the Asia/Pacific Region and Beijing+5: a progress report By Robyn Hunt, New Zealand Presented to RI 19th World Congress, Rio de Janeiro, August 2000 I want to begin by honouring all women with disability, and women who have stood alongside us in our struggle for equality. I would like us to remember those women who have gone before us on this journey, and in whose shadows we stand today. We may not know their names, but they are there, and we should not forget our herstories. I also want to acknowledge personally all those women, disabled and non-disabled who have supported, pushed and encouraged me on my personal journey. Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, just a few days before she died, painted the words Viva la Vida. Long live life. This paradox is at the heart of the disability experience. Frida Kahlo experienced great pain and physical limitation, but also great joy. She had a wonderful sense of humour, and her paintings glow with great richness of life. She used her paintings to comment on, and make sense of her own life, a very female thing to do. She painted her wheelchair and she painted her pain, her vulnerability and her strength. I think she also recognised that, in the words of a friend of mine, her greatest weakness was also her greatest strength. I take comfort in such strength and resilience when I contemplate the enormity of the task ahead of us. Beijing +5 'The objective of the Beijing platform for action is the empowerment of allwomen. (The emphasis is mine) The full realisation of allhuman rights is essential for the empowerment of women.' 'The platform for action emphasises that women share common concerns that can be addressed only by working together and in partnership with men towards the common goal of gender equality around the world. It respects and values the full diversity of women's situations and conditions and recognises that some women face particular barriers to their empowerment.' 'The platform for action recognises that women face barriers to full equality and advancement because of such factors as their race, language, ethnicity, culture, religion or disability.' (Further Actions and Initiatives to Implement the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action) Becoming visible The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action contains 39 articles with reference to girls and women with disability. Yet when I read the Beijing + 5 report, I find most statements were either couched in general terms, or referred to identified groups of women, not usually women with disability. That represents a global problem of invisibility of our lives and our issues. Perhaps our greatest task still is to ensure that our issues and concerns are on the women's agenda. The twelve critical areas identified in the Beijing Platform for Action are:
Progress since Beijing In considering progress under these headings it is difficult to find any information specifically on women with disabilities at all, so I will not be able to cover all areas, and those I do will not be in detail. NGO women who attended the UN Beijing+5 meetings in June this year in New York had expected greater progress on the critical areas identified within the Platform for Action, and many were disappointed that change was not happening as fast as they had expected from the Beijing meeting. They reported stalled progress, and the need to protect the language agreed upon at Beijing. Poverty Poverty is still probably the greatest barrier to full participation for women with disability In New Zealand seventy percent of all women with disabilities have incomes below $NZ 15,000 ($US 7300) a year, compared with forty-nine percent of men with disability. Many of these women live on social welfare benefits or superannuation. The situation will be worse in other countries as many do not have social welfare benefit systems. Women with disability as a group remain the poorest among the poor. Health The area of women's health in the Beijing +5 report is particularly concerned with the spread of such diseases as HIV AIDS, and women's reproductive health. There was also reference to the restructuring of health care in some countries, resulting in more private provision. The report stated that 'some women continue to encounter barriers to their right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.' This seems to me to be an understatement, and I am sure many women and girls with disability would fit into that group of 'some' women. In New Zealand as in other western countries the closing of psychiatric facilities, and the inability of community services to cope has led to difficulties for women with psychiatric illness. Violence Women continue to be victims of various forms of violence. There is an increasing recognition that violence endangers women's health and well-being. While some countries are beginning to address the issue of violence and abuse of women and girls with disability, the size of the problem is not fully known. Many women with disability are particularly vulnerable to abuse by carers. Trafficking in women and girls was a matter of concern at the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions, recently held in New Zealand. I am aware of some evidence that women with disability in our region are victims of trafficking and forced prostitution. Armed conflict Armed conflict is not only a cause of physical disability in civilian populations, but it also traumatises whole generations. Landmines are a particular problem in many areas where armed conflict may have ceased but the deadly mines still remain. There have been terrible wars around the world during the last five years. Women and children have been subjected to atrocities in the former Yugoslavia and East Timor, among other places In the last 100 years the nature of war has changed. At the beginning of the last century, the proportion of those killed was roughly 80% soldiers, 20% civilians. Now the figures have been reversed. Women and children suffer greatly. As well as injuries inflicted, wars divert economic and human resources away from development and creation of infrastructures upon which social and other services can be built. Sadly this is an area where my own part of the world, the Asia Pacific region, has suffered. In the past five years we have seen wars and unrest in even our formerly peaceful part of the world; in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. Their fragile economies are in ruins, and their infrastructure, utilities and social services damaged. East Timor has been virtually destroyed, and Indonesia is embroiled in turmoil and unrest. Just a week or so ago I heard a news item saying that Sri Lanka had just doubled its defence budget in its campaign against the Tamil Tigers. Women and the Economy Unemployment is high among disabled women. Where women do work they are often under-employed, and work in traditional female occupations. They are also discriminated against in education, and this affects their ability to participate in economic activity. Some countries have recognised the need for more 'family friendly' employment policies which may benefit some women with disability. The growth of options for employment, such as supported employment, and self-employment are creating new opportunities for women, but some forms of employment such as sheltered employment, contravene human rights principles and should be phased out. Human Rights There is a growing recognition that people with disability have human rights along with everyone else, and women with disability have worked alongside others for that recognition. The number of countries that have human rights legislation covering disabled people is increasing. Human rights institutions are also increasing in number. In the Asia Pacific region there are institutions in Australia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Human rights institutions are also being established in Thailand, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Bangladesh and Mongolia. It is disappointing to note that the position of Disability Commissioner in Australia was disestablished in 1997. Some issues, such as the revival of eugenics and the enforced sterilisation of young girls, particularly those with intellectual disabilities, which still occurs, are particularly dangerous for women with disability. There is still a great need for human rights education at all levels of society. New Zealand's human rights legislation includes women and people with disability. We also have a health and disability code of rights. The code is largely concerned with quality of service and not with access to service. Currently the provisions of the Human Rights Act 1993 are being re evaluated. Marginalisation A strong statement on disability was made at the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions by the sole disability representative at the gathering: 'Disability struggles still to be real . . . .we disabled people are in every group that is marginalised and discriminated against. We are women, race, religion, age, caste, class, political opinion and so on. We are often poor. We are regularly subjected to violence and abuse.' It went on to point out that in New Zealand complaints about disability discrimination are the largest group of complaints received by the Human Rights Commission. The NGO final statement also included a statement alluding to comments made by forum members that the priority of human-rights work should be to protect the human rights of the most marginalised and vulnerable in society, and disabled people were given as an example. Disability Services in New Zealand The provision of disability services is not included in the Beijing + 5 report. Access to such services is part of our social and cultural rights. Without access to quality disability support services that include the perspectives of women with disability we are unable to enjoy full economic rights, and our human rights generally. I can give a brief New Zealand perspective The New Zealand NGO CEDAW report of 1998 disagreed with the government report that implied that disability is a variant of health. A change of government and vociferous protest from the disability community is beginning to make a difference, with more resources being allocated to disability support and the development of a disability strategy, which (in draft) at present includes action for women with disability. Women with disability in New Zealand are probably at the same stage of development as other women were twenty-five years ago. We know that indigenous women with disability in many countries do not have easy access to disability support services — in New Zealand, Maori and Pacific people with disability do not access disability services as much as other people, even though the rates of disability in these groups are high. Some positive actions and projects Just in case anyone listening is feeling too depressed I thought I would tell you about some projects and advances I have been involved in which show there is some progress. It is often patchy, and depends on the leadership of a particular person or people in a particular role/s at a given time. Several years ago I took part in a New Zealand Law Commission project considering women's access to justice. The project was undertaken by a dedicated group of women lawyers, led by a woman commissioner. She was keen to talk about the issues faced by women with disability, and I facilitated consultation, and contributed to the final report. I am sure it will come as no surprise to anyone here that disabled women encounter considerable barriers, barriers of cost, or access to service, of adequate representation and of fair treatment. But we were on the agenda. There are and there have been a number of support groups of women with disability around New Zealand. Deaf and blind and vision-impaired women have been particularly active over the years. VIEW, Vision Impaired Empowered Women maintain international connections. I recently attended a New Zealand disability leadership forum, a new venture, and was encouraged to meet a number of younger women who I believe will make outstanding leaders. A friend of mine who is an award winning poet has run successful creative writing workshops — Tangling with Tigers and Tulips. Women with disability are poets and storytellers, who are earning international recognition. Women with disability were counted for the first time in New Zealand in the 1996 census and follow-up survey. The same question and follow-up survey will be part of the next census. I have been a guest lecturer now for some years on the Women's Studies course at Victoria University of Wellington where I cover women with disability in society and images of women in literature. While not all NGOs are receptive to our issues, I am currently discussing the development of a disability project with the CEO of the New Zealand Family Planning Association, a leader in supporting women's rights. Action! Action! Action! The Beijing + 5 report states: ' Girls and women of all ages with any form of disability are generally among the more vulnerable and marginalised of society. There is therefore need to take into account and to address their concerns in all policy making and programming. Special measures are needed at all levels to integrate them into the mainstream of development.' How can we do this? Here are some suggestions and challenges:
It is important to have allies to achieve change. Supporting mainstream women's issues and projects can help build those alliances. Allies, though, have to stand with us, not speak for us. Much of what we do is what I call chipping away at the stone. I must admit, though, to sometimes wishing I could use some heavy-duty explosives and make a really big impression. I hope the women's sessions at this conference will add to the numbers and the strength of those who continue to chip away at the rock of inequality and discrimination. In Conclusion I want to issue some challenges. I challenge women with and without disability to work together in respectful ways. I challenge disabled men to work with disabled women in respectful and empowering ways. I challenge non-disabled people to listen to us, and not speak for us, and to give us space to work. Celebration I want to end with a celebration of women with disability. Women I know are mothers, lovers, sisters, wives. They are writers, union activists, sculptors, public servants, painters, leaders, craftspeople, disability and human-rights activists, policy analysts, trainers, clergy, musicians, teachers, singers, communicators, disability service workers, poets, lawyers, dreamers, TV presenters and broadcasters. They work on the land and as volunteers. They are also unemployed, isolated, forgotten, abused, neglected impoverished, uneducated, imprisoned, deprived of their children, illiterate and often in poor health. But they are also strong, resilient, funny, survivors, loving, smart, caring and fun, schemers, planners, thinkers and activists working for a better world for everyone. Women with disability won't go away. We are life affirming, in all the rich diversity and power of humankind. table of contents - home page - text-only home page |