Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 14 Tackling the Protection from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (PSEA) and Sexual Harassment (SH)*

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 16 Knowledge Management and Communication

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 11 Gender Architecture 

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 15 Equal Representation of Women

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 17 Interagency Engagement

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 12 Capacity Development

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 13 Organizational Culture

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 10 Financial Targets

The list highlights key recent knowledge products developed by the UN System Coordination Division of UN Women to support the integration of gender considerations into strategic system-wide processes at global, regional, and country levels. It covers topics spanning from gender mainstreaming, UN-SWAP, UNCT-SWAP, Gender Equality Marker, UN Gender Theme Groups, to Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality.

Guidance for UN-SWAP 3.0 Performance Indicator 18 Stakeholder Engagement*

User Guide for UN-SWAP Reporting Platform

UN-SWAP 3.0 Technical Guidance Annex

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.
 

A series featuring in-depth analysis of the 2024 UN-SWAP results, organized by indicator sets. The first issue focuses on results-related indicators: PI 1, 2, and 3,
 

The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Gender and Disability Inclusion (UNWGGDI) collected case studies for the Beijing+30 review process, looking at lessons learned and good practices on gender, disability inclusion, and intersectionality. UN Women received a total 32 case studies from six UN entities (UN Women, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNOPS) and two UN Country Teams represented by the UN Resident Coordinator’s Offices in India and Honduras.

In reflection of the 12 critical areas of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, violence against women and women in power and decision-making were equally the most addressed critical areas in the case studies, while the critical areas around women and the environment as well as the girl child were equally the least addressed.

This knowledge compendium aims to share reflections for UN entities, Member States, policymakers, and civil society organizations. It synthesizes best practices, innovative approaches, and collaborative efforts to enhance sustainable development and human rights for all. By ensuring that the rights and needs of women and girls with disabilities are adequately addressed, this document reinforces the commitment of the UN system and its stakeholders to a more equitable and inclusive future.

This policy paper is focused on diverse groups of socially marginalized women with diverse disabilities. It highlights how the 12 critical areas of concern from the Beijing Platform for Action have progressed or faced continuing entrenched barriers and dealt with new challenges in the 30 years since the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing.

The focus is specifically on how gender inequality and disability exclusion both compound and create unique concerns for women and girls with disabilities. As they are not homogenous, this paper takes an intersectional approach, identifying the impacts for women and girls with disabilities facing numerous forms of discrimination while having different and multiple types of disabilities. Stereotypes and social and cultural norms are discussed in relation to stigma and discrimination.

The paper also features the voices of diverse women leaders with diverse disabilities, with case studies from various low- and middle-income countries.

The paper was produced as part of the development of the global report on accelerating disability inclusion in a diverse and changing world as well as a set of accompanying documents prepared for the Global Disability Summit 2025. Funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany through UNICEF.

Preventing and responding to violence against women with disabilities requires a comprehensive and multi-faceted approach. It includes:

• strengthening legal frameworks,
• enhancing support services,
• ensuring that an inclusive lens is applied to prevention efforts,
• raising societal awareness,
• improving data collection, and
• promoting intersectoral collaboration.

It is also crucial to prioritize the voices, experiences, and agency of women with disabilities in developing and implementing policies and interventions.

This publication provides recommendations for policymakers to address the findings highlighted through the project “Addressing stigma and discrimination experienced by women with disabilities (ASDWD)”, which was developed in partnership with researchers from University College London, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women offices, local organizations of people with disabilities, and individual women with disabilities who contributed across Pakistan, Palestine, Republic of Moldova, and Samoa, with funding from the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNPRPD).

Women and girls with disabilities continue to face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. When it comes to global normative standards for disability inclusion, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) includes provisions and obligations related to gender equality. To date, however, normative standards have not been consistently translated into national, sectoral, and/or local gender-responsive, disability-inclusive policies and corresponding budgets.

Drawing on a selection of country experiences, this policy brief identifies emerging trends and practices on gender- and disability-inclusive budgeting. These include, among others:

• collection, analysis, and use of data and statistics on intersectional discrimination;
• integration of gender and disability inclusion in laws, policies, systems, and institutional practice;
• integration of gender and disability inclusion in the planning and budgeting cycle; and
• enhanced participation of women with disabilities in policy, planning, and budgeting.

The brief aims to address these gaps and promote policy discourse and reforms at global and country level.

One in five women is estimated to be living with a disability, making it crucial to study the increased risks of various forms of violence that they face.  

This synthesis review contains key insights and lessons from the experiences of 22 diverse civil society and women’s rights organizations in various contexts that were supported by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) special window to end violence against women and girls with disabilities between 2018 and 2023. In particular, it highlights the lessons learned about fostering collaboration, shifting mindsets, empowering women and girls with disabilities, engaging with legal and policy systems, and allowing for flexible adaptation and learning in addressing violence against women and girls with disabilities.  

These findings mean that the review: 

• contributes to developing programming that is disability specific and disability inclusive; 
• promotes the development of a knowledge base that is grounded in the realities of practitioners in the Global South; and 
• offers practical recommendations to practitioners, researchers, donors and policymakers. 

The “Women with disabilities stigma inventory” (WDSI) was developed as part of the project “Addressing stigma and discrimination experienced by women with disabilities” (ASDWD) project, which was jointly led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women, with funding from the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN PRPD).

The ASDWD project focused on the intersection of disability and gender-based stigma and discrimination. A key objective was to create a survey tool to assess the experiences of women and girls with disabilities regarding stigma, discrimination, and gender-based violence. To this end, alongside developing the WDSI using a participatory approach, a methodological note and ethical guidelines were also produced to ensure a human rights–based approach and minimize harm.

This toolkit includes:

• Women with disabilities stigma inventory (WDSI)
• WDSI methodological note
• Ethical standards guide for the ASDWD project

The WDSI is a stand-alone, self-reporting survey tool that can be used to collect data about the experiences of women with disabilities globally in relation to stigma, discrimination, and violence.

The purpose of the methodological note is to provide an overview of the WDSI, its development process, and how to implement the tool and analyse results.

The “Ethical standards guide” was used throughout the ASDWD project to minimize the risk of harm while engaging women with disabilities. The human rights–based approach and the “Do no harm” principle guided the conceptualization and implementation of these guidelines.