Global Task Team on Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality

In 2017, UN Women established an internal Global Task Team on Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality (GTTDII) to strengthen UN work in this area. Focal points from within UN Women participate in the GTTDII and actively contribute to UN Women’s efforts on gender-responsive disability inclusion in all areas of our work, including inter-agency collaboration at the global, regional and country levels.  In 2020, UN Women established an entity-wide Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality Community of Practice (DIICoP) to support the critical work of mainstreaming disability inclusion.

Legislative Basis

International, national and regional norms and standards call for the inclusion and empowerment of all women and girls with disabilities across their life course and for mainstreaming gender-sensitive disability inclusion. To ensure these goals are achieved, UN Women is working with other United Nations entities to provide policies, processes and mechanisms that are inclusive of and accessible to persons with disabilities, including women with disabilities in their diversity.

How We Work

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The UN Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS), launched in 2020, is an inter-agency action plan and accountability framework to strengthen system-wide accessibility and to mainstream the rights of people with disabilities across the UN’s operations. UN Women actively contributed to the strategy’s development and is working to implement it.  With other United Nations entities, UN Women co-leads efforts towards more gender-responsive disability inclusion. The accountability framework includes 15 performance indicators that address responsibility; leadership; strategic planning and management; inclusiveness; programming; and organizational culture.

The Inter-Agency Support Group for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (IASG), which UN Women joined in 2015, serves as a United Nations system-wide platform to address mainstreaming disability into the global agenda through its collaborative mechanisms for action.

The United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD), supported by the UNPRPD Fund, works to overcome the multiple barriers that continue to prevent persons with disabilities from equally and effectively enjoying all human rights and fundamental freedoms. UN Women joined the UNPRPD in 2015 and, through joint United Nations initiatives at the country and global levels, has contributed to mainstreaming gender perspectives and women’s rights.

Where We Stand

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An Intersectionality Resource Guide and Toolkit, funded by the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, was developed by UN Women in partnership with OHCHR, UNFPA, UNDESA, UNICEF and members of civil society advisory groups. By providing conceptual clarity, a practical framework and tools for reducing inequalities faced by people who experience diverse and compounded forms of discrimination, the Resource Guide and Toolkit will help practitioners, policymakers and advocates mobilise efforts to address the 2030 Agenda’s goals by embedding intersectionality as part of their policies, programmes and services.

UNDP and UN Women, funded by the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, are implementing a joint programme to address key challenges to overcoming stigma and discrimination and to better address violence against women and girls with disabilities. Following an intersectional approach, the programme will use behavioural insight (BI) approaches to design and pilot interventions for behavioural change in project countries and evaluate their impact.

The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionally affecting persons with disabilities, who are often invisible, excluded from support systems, and more at risk because of impaired health and lack of basic services and social protection systems. In 2020, the UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities funded the UN joint programme to support countries' design and implementation of disability inclusive response and recovery planning for COVID-19. The joint programme has produced several resources. Its implementation was led by UN Women along with participating UN entities – ILO, UNDP, UNICEF, UNESCO, WHO, UNFPA, UNDESA and OHCHR.

Disability inclusion markers are a simple tool to identify and report activities to promote rights and equality for persons with disabilities. UN Women has been exploring options for possible introduction of disability inclusion markers to Entity’s results monitoring and reporting systems. This has included looking at existing disability inclusion markers and gender equality markers as well as discussions with UN Secretariat bodies.

Resources

Check out more publications, guidances and reports on gender-responsive disability inclusion on the Resource page.

Manuals and Guidance

2022

Intersectionality resource guide and toolkit

The Toolkit aims to help both organizations and individual practitioners and experts to address intersectionality in policies and programmes.

Briefs and brochures

2022

Disability inclusion markers

The brief highlights UN Women’s research on disability inclusion markers alongside insights from a wide range of development partners.

Good practices Reports Research and data

2021

Regional Analysis on Trends and Emerging Issues Related to Women with Disabilities in East and Southern Africa Focusing on the COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this study was to develop a variety of texts documenting case studies of good and promising practices in the area of the protection of rights and access to services for women with disabilities in East and Southern Africa (ESA) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Reports

2022

Violence Against Women with Disabilities Study

The study presents knowledge on the different forms of violence, its underlying causes, and the ability to access services as well as the experiences of women with disabilities in Egypt, focusing on the intersectionality between gender, disability and poverty.

Briefs and brochures

2022

Gender, age, and disability: Addressing the intersection

By focusing on the intersection of gender, age, and disability, this brief seeks to raise awareness regarding the situation of older women with disabilities and provides a set of recommendations for actions that stakeholders might consider and implement.
 

Helpdesk

For technical queries/country support, please contact di.helpdesk@unwomen.org