Stephanie Ortoleva

Founder and Board Member Emeritus at Women Enabled International

Founder’s Herstory

Stephanie Ortoleva is an accomplished human rights lawyer and prominent feminist leader, scholar and activist, and herself a woman with a disability, who established Women Enabled International (WEI), in 2012 the first and still only international organization dedicated to advancing human rights at the intersection of gender and disability.

Prior to founding WEI in 2012, Stephanie served as an attorney and human rights officer at the U.S. Department of State, where she was honored with the prestigious Franklin Award in 2009 in recognition of her outstanding achievements. Additional awards for her prolific contributions to civil rights and social justice include Hofstra University School of Law ‘Outstanding Women in Law’ awardee in 2017, and Women’s E-News recognition in 2016 as a leader for women’s rights for the 21st Century.

Stephanie is the former founding Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law’s International Disability Rights Interest Group, served on the American Bar Association’s Commission on Disability Rights, is a member of the Board of Directors of Disability Rights International and the U.S. International Council on Disability. She graduated from Hofstra University School of Law with outstanding honors.

Her ground-breaking research and writings framed the core intersectional human rights issues that define WEI’s ongoing work and have influenced scholars and activists around the world to explore gender and disability and related intersections. Those prominent papers addressed issues such as violence against women with disabilities, access to justice, women with disabilities in conflict and humanitarian settings and peacebuilding processes.