Women Enabled International Submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Preparation of a General Comment on Article 27 of the CRPD (the right to work and employment)

March 15, 2021

Women Enabled International (WEI) appreciates the opportunity to provide the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) with information on the right to work and employment of women, girls, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities, to inform the drafting of a general comment on Article 27 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Women and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities experience myriad barriers to fulfilling their right to work and employment, due to factors based on both their gender and disability. For instance, women and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities are overrepresented in precarious employment, often outside of the formal work sector. They also experience higher rates of unemployment, receive unequal remuneration for work of equal value, and are denied reasonable accommodation. Furthermore, due to both their gender and disability, women and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities experience sexual and psychological harassment, and sometimes violence, in the labor market and workplace. Similar to other women, they are not recognized for unpaid care and domestic work they perform. The right to work for women and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities is also indivisible and interdependent on a number of other rights in the CRPD that disproportionately impact the intersection of gender and disability, including the right to education, to sexual and reproductive health, and to freedom from violence. Many of these issues have deepened since 2020 due to the economic crisis stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, where employment for everyone, and particularly persons in precarious work situations, has been significantly affected.

This submission presents an overview of common rights violations against women and gender nonconforming persons with disabilities in the context of work and employment, as well as how existing human rights standards guide States towards addressing those violations. This submission will also highlight how the right to work and employment intersects with other rights for women, girls, and gender non-conforming persons with disabilities, including access to education and training; freedom from violence, exploitation and abuse, the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, and to exercise bodily autonomy; and the need for data. This submission will then conclude with recommendations that we hope will help inform the forthcoming general comment from the CRPD Committee or Article 27 of the CRPD.