About 16 per cent of the world’s population are estimated to be living with a disability, including more than 700 million women and girls.

Progress has been made since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, passed in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, which raised concerns of the unique challenges faced by women with disabilities and called on governments around the world to address them.

 

Nevertheless, women and girls with disabilities continue to face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, including increased risks of violence and abuse, barriers to employment, inferior quality education and health services, and limitations on their participation in decision-making spaces.

UN Women’s recent research with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women highlights five key strategies for ensuring that women with disabilities are included in the push to end gender-based violence.