The Gender Accessibility Audit Toolkit helps practitioners and civil society identify architectural, infrastructural, information and communication barriers that prevent women and girls with disabilities from fully exercising their human rights and fundamental freedoms. This toolkit can be used by local governments and service providers, such as social security, health care, education services, etc. in inclusive local planning, budgeting, and the provision of services. It can also guide representatives of civil society and gender equality and disability rights advocates, and women and men with disabilities to advocate for the elimination of identified barriers.

The Report represents the first United Nations system wide effort to examine disability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the global level. The report reviews data, policies and programmes and identifies best practices; and uses this evidence to outline recommended actions to promote the realization of the SDGs for persons with disabilities.

This brief underlines the need to mainstream disability and address the rights and demands of women with disabilities as a matter of priority to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development for all women and girls. Based on available data, the brief highlights key issues related to gender equality and women’s empowerment (SDG 5), ending poverty (SDG 1) and ensuring healthy lives (SDG 3) for women and girls with disabilities; and calls for closing data gaps on gender and disability.

The brief sheds light on the barriers faced by women with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities in accessing justice, and explores a series of recommendations to close the justice gap.

The Guidance Note seeks to encourage an intersectionality perspective in the context of policy development, programming and project implementation as a means of strengthening the UN system’s efforts to eliminate racial discrimination and strengthen the protection of minorities.