Women Enabled International Submission to the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women: Violence at the Intersection of Gender and Disability during COVID-19

June 30, 2020

Home may be a safe place for most, but for many women, girls, non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities, their homes are a place of fear. Women and girls with disabilities experience violence from partners and family members at least two to three times the rate of other women,2 and during lockdowns, shelter in place orders, and other times of mandatory or recommended isolation, these individuals will be even less able to escape violence, particularly if their usual supports are not available to them.3 Institutionalized persons with disabilities are at further risk of violence due to their isolation,4 which increases when visitors and monitors may not be allowed in.

This submission focuses on the heightened risk of violence at the intersection of gender and disability during the COVID-19 pandemic, including familial and intimate partner violence and violations in the context of reproductive health. It further draws out risk factors for gender-based violence that are unique to women, girls, non-binary, trans, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities as compared with other women. This submission also provides some examples of good practices, where they exist, or good policy recommendations to address violence at the intersection of gender and disability during the COVID-19 pandemic, and concludes with a short list of recommendations to the SRVAW as she moves forward with this work.