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

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.

Persons with disabilities have the same rights as anyone else to participate in society. However, in practice, persons with disabilities are often not able to enjoy these rights and participate but find themselves excluded and discriminated against

This series of briefs addresses a range of issues related to the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities. Building on UN Women's corporate strategy on the issue, the objective of this series is to analyse and assess global trends across various thematic areas from a perspective of gender-responsive disability inclusion.

Accessibility and reasonable accommodation are important pillars of disability inclusion. They contribute to remove barriers to information, communication, services, products, and devices.

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.

The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS) provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations: peace and security, human rights, and development. This webpage has links to the Strategy in various languages and to information and resources related its implementation.

The ESCAP Disability Inclusion Policy is developed in line with the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy (UNDIS). The Policy sets out the vision of ESCAP to be a fully disability-inclusive organization.

The toolkit is developed based on the information gathered from the person with disability, organization for person with disability, CSO and government in Timor-Leste, who work in prevention of violence against women and children. The content in the toolkit is looking at the definition of person with disability, human right, gender, violence and action plan to help training provider conducting the training for service provider institutions.

The Guide supports key stakeholders to help facilitate the full inclusion and meaningful participation of women and girls with disabilities. It aims to assist in understanding of the intersectionality of human rights and provides practical recommendations for the implementation and monitoring of two key Conventions: the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

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 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.

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.

The purpose of the Guidelines is to provide guidance on how to consult with and actively involve persons with disabilities and their representative organizations in all disability-specific and general decision-making processes across the UN’s work, as mandated in the UNDIS’ entity accountability framework and UNCT accountability scorecard, in order to enhance the participation of persons with disabilities to reach programmatic and operational goals and leave no one behind. This document provides guidance on how to make participation of persons with disabilities meaningful.

The Guidelines are intended to assist all UN personnel, whether they are working in human rights, sustainable development, humanitarian assistance, peace and security, or operational functions to consult with and actively involve with persons with disabilities and their representative organizations across programmes and operations – from planning and design to implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Are you planning an event and want to ensure it is accessible for all, including persons with disabilities but are unsure about the basic event accessibility guidelines? This document is for you!

Since 15 per cent of the world’s population experience one or another form of disability, ensuring physical and information accessibility is a prerequisite for their effective and meaningful participation in any public event. Everyone who arrives at your event should feel welcome and be able to participate and benefit from the event equally. This document provides guidelines on basic accessibility requirements to help you plan a more inclusive and accessible event.

Disability-inclusive communications will help to fulfill the promise of ‘leaving no one behind’, a key component of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Inclusive communications allow persons with disabilities to participate fully and equally in all spheres of society.

The purpose of the Guidelines is to assist UN communications focal points and other UN staff to make all our communications disabilityinclusive and accessible. Inclusive and accessible communications reduce bias and discrimination, and promote inclusion and participation.

UN Women is fully committed to mainstreaming disability inclusion and intersectionality throughout its work, as laid out in the UN Women Strategic Plan 2022–2025. The goal is to ensure a more systematic approach to ensuring the rights of women and girls with disabilities across UN Women’s areas of work.

Disability, gender, and discrimination are closely interlinked, with one in five women experiencing a disability-related exclusion. To address this, UN Women developed a corporate strategy for the empowerment of women and girls with disabilities built on a multi-pronged approach that includes providing normative guidance, integrated policy advice, operational support, and technical assistance for programme and capacity-development. The approach helps ensure that initiatives are both gender-responsive and inclusive of the rights of persons with disabilities.

This brief overviews UN Women’s approach to disability inclusion and intersectionality.