Celebrating the International Day of Women is very important for women with disability to just as a woman but also a woman with a disability. It is a day that the entire world recognizes the plight of women and the efforts that have been channeled towards achieving gender equality. The 2022 theme for International Women’s Day was ‘Gender Equality for a Sustainable Tomorrow’ with the campaign #BreakTheBias. This theme speaks volumes to the challenges that women face and the immense potential that can be unlocked if we created a society that supports women empowerment and equality.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day it is also very critical for us to acknowledge different realities for different populations of women. One of this population is women and girls with disabilities who face compounded vulnerabilities in the society for being of a female sex and also for having a disability. These vulnerabilities tend to increase depending on the social and economic factors. It’s for these reasons that girls and women with disability should be involved in the commemoration of Women’s Day and the fight for gender equity and equality.

Girls with disability can be involved in the celebrations of the International Women’s Day through self-advocacy to create awareness on the challenges and barriers they face and recommend solutions to those challenges. Self-advocacy is a very practical concept when it comes to raising awareness on disability issues as persons with disabilities are the experts of their different life experiences and empowering them to do self-advocacy is one of the right things to do.

Manique Gunaratne spoke on importance of including women with disability on International Day for Women at a program at Yarl TV in March 2022.

MANIQUE GUNARATNE
BOARD MEMBER NAVAJEEVANA REHABILITATION