Female parliamentarians and civil society leaders have called on communities to end the discrimination against women and girls with disabilities who are often left with vulnerable as they are unable to access some basic services.
Speaking during a virtual launch of the SRHR Guideline for Women and Girls with Disabilities by Institute for Community Development in Zimbabwe – ICOD Zim yesterday, Dr Ruth Labode, who chairs the parliamentary portfolio committee on health and childcare said the country has embraced, albeit retrogressively, unwanted norms which put the health and safety of women and girls with disabilities at risk.
She said most of the abuse is recorded in health institutions where access to health services for WGWD has become difficult due to the kind of treatment they are subjected to.
Women with disabilities, Dr Labode noted, are often considered as asexual beings, who cannot effort a sexual partner, create a family or become a parent and as long as they are not sexually active, they are not considered reproductive rights subjects.
Those stigmas are particularly strong in the cases of persons with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities, because of the view, that they lack the capacity to understand sexuality and their own bodies
“As a nation, we have stereotypes, norms and taboos towards women and girls with disabilities. If a woman goes to a public health institution, people around her start forming an automatic attitude towards her,” she noted.
Dr Labode added that health services providers then tend to not provide quality services to the patient based on their physical appearance.
Information from health institutions is not aggregated to show that if a woman dies while giving birth, did that woman have a disability and what form was it.
“That information will be very important because we might realise that most women who are dying have some kind of a disability which would then change our strategy as we move in achieving the 2030 SDG goal of reducing maternal mortality. If we do not know what our problem is, we will not be able to solve it,” Dr Labode said.
Another Member of Parliament, Dr Thokozani Khupe said it is imperative that women and girls with disabilities needs are prioritized and listened to.
“Women with disabilities have different needs from those without and therefore their needs must be appreciated differently and budgeted for adequately
ICOD-Zim Director, Talent Maphosa bemoaned sexual violence of women and girls with disabilities which she says has been prevalent in recent times but remains unreported.
She added that WGWD remain vulnerable to sexual abuse as men, especially, tend to take advantage of their vulnerabilities.
“The issue is not if a child with a disability is going to be sexually abused but it is about that will because it has become almost inevitable as we are living it times where a woman or girl with a disability is likely to be abused.
Maphosa said it becomes worse when the woman or girl has mental health problems.
Women with disabilities are often subjected to forced sterilization, abortion and contraception in a number of countries for different reasons including menstrual management and pregnancy prevention in many cases at the request of health professionals or parents;
This issue is extremely acute for women with psychosocial especially for those placed in institutions as they are particularly vulnerable to forced sterilization.
The recently launched report sought to address the question on the evolving concept, resulting from the interaction between impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinder persons with disabilities full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
