Global leaders urged to end discriminations that push adolescent girls with disabilities farthest behind in life

22 March 2022
News release
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Gender, disability and age are key drivers of inequity and discrimination. When they intersect, their negative impact is compounded, meaning adolescent girls with disabilities in particular face overwhelming barriers to realizing their health and rights

Compared to their peers who have no disabilities, children and adolescents (0-17 age group) with disabilities are 27% more likely to be out of upper-secondary school, 41% more likely to feel discriminated against and 51% more likely to feel unhappy. Adolescent girls with disabilities fare particularly poorly, facing additional inequities in accessing education, affordable health and other key services, and risking greater violations to their personal safety and security, as their disabilities are compounded by gender and age.

Delegates attending a special side-event being held on Tuesday, 22 March, 2022, during the 66th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW66) will call for greater focus on reducing the structural discrimination caused by gender, age and disability through provision of more resources and technical support. They will urge governments and civil society to adopt an intersectional approach which empowers women and girls with disabilities by consulting and involving them in developing the programmes that affect them.

Watch the event

Equity and Inclusion for Adolescent Girls Everywhere: Policy and advocacy approaches to promote disability inclusion, is co-sponsored by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the UK, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Government of Bangladesh, the United States Mission to the United Nations, PMNCH, the global alliance for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health, and the International Disability and Development Consortium (IDDC).

Despite the fact that children and adolescents with disabilities are among the most marginalised and discriminated against groups, their priority on the general health agenda is low.  The number of children and adolescents (0 – 17 age group) with disabilities globally is estimated at almost 240 million (1 in 10 worldwide).

Adolescent girls and young women with disability face particular barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) services and information, despite having the same rights as other girls and young women, as recognised in various international conventions, such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Yet, provision of accessible SRHR information and services for girls and young women with disabilities is largely non-existent.

When women and girls with disabilities try to access SRHR services, they can experience negative and hostile attitudes among service providers, lack of accessible buildings, equipment, and transportation, low affordability of services, and isolation in institutions, displacement camps, family homes, or group homes.

Women and girls with disabilities also suffer up to three times greater risk of rape, and are twice as likely to be survivors of domestic violence and other forms of gender-based violence (over a longer period and with more severe injuries) than women without disabilities.

Despite a lack of recorded evidence, it is generally accepted that the pre-existing inequities and discrimination women and adolescent girls with disabilities face on a daily basis has been further amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, some women and girls with disabilities who require assistance from others, such as sign language interpreters, to access SRH or other health services, were no longer allowed to bring those individuals with them due to social distancing rules.

The situation for girls and women with disabilities only worsens in humanitarian settings, and delegates at the CSW66 side-event will also reflect on the current humanitarian crises unfolding in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria and in many other parts of the world. Conflict and displacement heighten the discriminations that women and girls with disabilities already face in times of peace, and destroys their protection systems, making them more vulnerable to exploitation. They may find themselves cut off from general and specialised health- and disability- related support services, or facing significant barriers to affording and accessing such services, as well as food, clean water, housing, sanitation items, and other basic needs.

Delegates at the event will share evidence on the impact and drivers of discrimination, as well as policy approaches and practical improvements to improve equity and reduce exclusion, to support girls and women with disabilities to live their lives to their full potential.  

The session will highlight lived experiences, and explore current challenges and policy opportunities for adolescent girls with disabilities, outlining critical next steps to promote their inclusion. The 2030 Agenda for sustainable development is clear that disability must be included with regard to access to development programming and the realisation of human rights.

Delegates will call for more resources and technical support to be made available to address the needs of all persons with disabilities, and to find and integrate innovative solutions and additional normative guidance with explicit consideration of disability, to create more enabling and accessible environments. Disability-related support services must also be classified as essential services. 

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include seven targets which explicitly refer to persons with disabilities. Agenda 2030 is underpinned by the leave no one behind principle, which means none of the SDGs can be truly achieved unless people with disabilities are included. Furthermore, strengthening health systems and promoting disability inclusion in the health sector are crucial preconditions both to building back better after the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

More data is required in this arena to support programme development. Delegates will encourage states to prioritise the collection and dissemination of disability-related and disaggregated data and information to drive evidence-based programming and accountability.

Finally, but most importantly, those attending the event will call for women and adolescent girls with disabilities to be empowered and meaningfully engaged in the development of all policies, programmes and legal processes that effect their health, well-being and status, which is one of the central tenets of PMNCH’s Adolescents Call to Action.

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