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.

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.

The UN Gender Theme Group Good Practice Compendium (2024) is a collection of examples from UN Country Teams collected during the rollout of the UNSDG Gender Theme Groups Standards and Procedures in 2022-2023. More than 300 UN colleagues at country level participated in the rollout, managed by UN Women and DCO regional offices with the support of UN Women's UN System Coordination Division, in close collaboration with DCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA,  representing the UN Gender Equality Network, at a global level. The good practices are meant to strengthen the system-wide impact, efficiency, and results for gender equality led by Gender Theme Groups, currently operational in more than 100 country teams globally. The compendium provides useful and hands-on examples for the effective function and operation of Gender Theme Groups.

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. 

Empowered by the UN-SWAP 2.0, UN Women is able to identify and coordinate the system-wide adoption of good practices and harmonized products that can be scaled from one entity to another. UN Women selects and publishes a series of good practices from various entities on annual basis, normally through the UN-SWAP review reports and the updated technical guidance. This catalog aggregates various best practices under UN-SWAP 2.0 indicators, updated in 2022.

Overview of UN Women's work to amplify the voices of women with disabilities and enable their equal representation, UN Women strives to ensure their active participation in intergovernmental meetings and consultative processes.

OHCHR has a mandate to ensure the inclusion of the rights of persons with disabilities in the United Nations system. The webpage provides access to guidance on the human rights-based approach to disability, as well as reporting and activities mandated by the Human Rights Council, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, among others.

The website of the United Nations Programme on Disability/Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (SCRPD)has information and resources related to mainstreaming disability and the rights of persons with disabilities in the development agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);the yearly Conference of State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the United Nations Inter-agency Support Group on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (IASG).

The website contains information and resources to promote and support the right of people with disabilities to decent work taking a twin-track approach to disability inclusion. One track allows for disability-specific programmes or initiatives aimed at overcoming particular disadvantages or barriers, while the other track seeks to ensure the inclusion of disabled persons in mainstream services and activities, such as skills training, employment promotion, social protection schemes and poverty reduction strategies.

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is the body of independent experts which monitors implementation of the Convention by the States Parties.

UNICEF work has a renewed and intensified focus on equity, which seeks to identify and address the root causes of inequality so that all children can realize their rights. The equity-based approach is one of the foundations UNICEF's disability agenda.

Through a rights-based approach, UNESCO encourages the development and implementation of inclusive education policies, programmes and practices to ensure equal education opportunities for persons with disabilities.

An overview of UN Habitat's work on disabilities

UNHCR works to ensure women, girls, men and boys with disabilities have access to vital services and have the opportunity to apply their skills and capacities to benefit themselves, their families and communities, and to identify the issues they face and develop long-term solutions.

Including persons with disabilities and expanding equitable opportunities are at the core of the World Bank's work to build sustainable, inclusive communities, aligned with the institution's goals to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity.

ESCWA assists member States in devising inclusive development policies

An overview of WHO's work on disabilities

the Inter-Agency Standing Committee published Guidelines on the ‘Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action’ which set out essential actions that humanitarian actors must take in order to effectively identify and respond to the needs and rights of persons with disabilities.

The objective of these Field-specific Enabling Environment Guidelines is to provide tailored guidance for personnel in the field, especially in mission settings, to help increase the representation of women and accelerate efforts to reach parity in the UN system