Overview  
Article 6 of the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities expressly calls on all Governments to take specific measures to ensure the full and equal enjoyment by women and girls with disabilities of all fundamental freedoms and human rights with men.

•	The number of women and men in the world with a disability is increasing through population growth, medical advances and the ageing process (World Health Organisation). 

•	In Australia, women can expect to live for 7.5 years of their life span with a severe or profound disability compared to 5.5 years for men.  In the ACT, no gendered data exists comparing the disability experiences of women and men.  

•	There are about 31,700 women with disabilities in the ACT, making up the majority (55.5%) of people with disabilities and 17% of all women in the ACT. (Men with disabilities comprise 14% of the male population.) 
 
•	Women with disabilities are recognised to be multiply disadvantaged, experiencing discrimination and exclusion on account of the intersection of both their gender and their disability. 

•	In the ACT there are more women than men across all disability groups.

ACT population (1000s) with disabilities 
*Source: Table 5 SDAC 44300DO001_2012 Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2012

Education
Access to education is important in helping individuals to reach their full potential.

•	The proportion of people with disabilities who graduate with a bachelor degree or higher is approximately half the graduation rate of the non-disabled population. The proportion who never attend school is 5 ½ times that of those without disabilities.
 
LEVEL of HIGHEST EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT  All people in the Australia: Proportions (%)*
	Bachelor degree or above	Advanced Diploma or Certificate	Year 12 High School or Equivalent	Year 10 High School or equivalent	Year 8 or Lower	Never attended school	
With reported disability	12.7	8.4	27.3	27.6	19.0	1.1	
No reported disability	25.0	10.2	56.1	21.1	4.3	0.2	
*Source: Table 7 SDAC 44300DO001_2012 Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia: Summary of Findings, 2012
Work
Access to employment is essential in achieving greater economic independence and inclusion.

•	Women with disabilities in the ACT had a significantly lower labour force participation rate, 65.1 per cent, than men with disabilities in the ACT, 80.1 per cent. ,  

•	Women with disabilities tend to be overrepresented in part-time jobs (56% - compared to just 22% of men with disabilities and 47% of non-disabled women). 

•	A lower proportion of women with disabilities in the ACT, 19.5 per cent, than men with disabilities in the ACT, 22 per cent, receive the Disability Support Pension. Further research is needed to determine the reasons for this.

•	Overall, 49% of ACT Disabilty Support Pension recipients are women, slightly higher than the national figure of 46%. It is likely that women with disabilities may be recipients of other welfare payments, such as single parent benefit or carer payment. 

Home
Unpaid caring work can encumber women’s economic security, through limiting their workforce participation, limiting the accumulation of their retirement incomes and savings, and affecting productivity, economic growth and poverty reduction.

•	Nationally, the majority of people with disabilities live in private dwellings (94%). The remainder of people with disabilities (6%) live in non-private dwellings, with nearly two-thirds of these (4%) living in cared accommodation.  However, there is no publicly available data that helps us understand the situations of women with disabilities in the ACT.  

•	There are 18,800 female carers in the ACT who make up 10 per cent of the total female population.  The known proportion of female carers in the ACT who also have a disability is not currently available. The total work burden for women with disabilities has never been captured. 
 
Experience of Violence, Neglect or Abuse	
Violence against women and girls directly affects individuals while harming our common humanity. It is the most significant threat to the lives of women aged between 15 and 44 in Australia.

•	Women with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to abuse.  Australian studies on this issue are few, but estimates of the rate of abuse range upwards from three times greater incidence than for non-disabled women.   

•	Women with disabilities are not only more vulnerable to violence, they often have difficulty accessing pathways to appropriate support, and have fewer options to escape violence.
Community
Social connections comprise the people we know, the friends we confide in, the family we belong to and the community we live in. Each contributes to our physical and mental health in a variety of ways.
•	Women with disabilities in Australia tend to access disability services less than men with disabilities: 19 per cent compared to 28 per cent.  In the ACT in 2009, 20.8 per cent of women (1,260) compared to 40.5 per cent of men (2,402) accessed disability services.

•	A lower proportion of women with disabilities receive screening for breast and cervical cancer compared with non-disabled women.

•	Because of their disabilities, 15.3 per cent of women with disabilities in the ACT restrict their social activities, compared to only 7.7 per cent of men. 
Ageing
Australia is much closer to the time when the most significant effects of ageing are likely to be felt.
•	The incidence of disability increases with age. Because women, on average, live longer than men, women experience disability for a greater proportion of their lives.

•	The proportion of women in the ACT with a profound disability increases tenfold after the age of 65 and with a severe disability it increases fivefold after the age of 65. This compares with fourfold and threefold increases respectively for men in the ACT after the age of 65.

Prepared by Emilia DELLA TORRE, Principal Policy Officer, Women With Disabilities ACT (April 2014)