International Day of Persons with Disabilities: Including Women and Girls with Disabilities in Global VAWG Research and Practice
What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale (What Works II) is committed to ensuring that women and girls with disabilities are fully included in global VAWG research and practice.
Today, December 3rd, marks the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. In this blog, co-authored with disability inclusion expert Dr. Ingrid van der Heidjen, we explore the experiences of women and girls with disabilities and highlight what is needed to strengthen disability and violence measurements so we can prevent and respond to VAWG through a truly intersectional lens.
It reports on previous work led by WHO/HRP, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) as part of the UN Women-WHO Joint Programme on Strengthening Methodologies and Measurement and Building National Capacities for Violence Against Women Data (Joint Programme on VAW Data). It also summarises emerging evidence and recommendations from an Expert Group Meeting co-hosted by What Works II in November alongside the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at the George Washington University, the University of Exeter’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences and the WHO/ UNDP-UNFPA-UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction (WHO/HRP).
Forms of Violence Against Women and Girls
Women and girls with disabilities experience violence in ways that are fundamentally shaped by the presence of disability. Evidence consistently shows that women and girls with disabilities experience intersecting forms of violence at much higher rates, over longer periods of time, and perpetrated by more people than women without disabilities [i].
In addition to gender-based violence, they may experience unique forms of violence based on disability stigma and the severity of their disability. Dependency on others for daily care and multiple physical and communication barriers influence how violence is perpetrated, and how it is experienced. Furthermore, perpetrators and locations of violence are broader as they include personal care assistants, health care providers, and rehabilitation or institutional settings [ii]. Thus they may experience disability-specific violence (DSV) such as withholding or damaging assistive devices, refusal of essential daily care to punish or control, physical restraint and isolation, controlling disability welfare grants or reproductive coercion such as forced abortion or sterilisation [iii].
Despite the higher prevalence and unique forms of harm they may encounter, women with disabilities remain underrepresented in violence against women (VAW) data. Currently, there is no “gold standard” for measuring VAW with disabilities. Moreover, there is no validated module to measure DSV from a variety of perpetrators in a variety of locations.
Our commitment to women and girls with disabilities
What Works II is committed to including women and girls with disabilities in global VAW research and practice. Part of this effort includes a scoping review to explore how disability and violence are currently measured, a briefing note on measuring violence against women with disabilities, and a meeting report for ensuring good research practices on violence against women. Furthermore, our recent Expert Group Meeting on Improving Measurement and Data on Violence against Women with Disabilities advances practical solutions to strengthen how disability and violence are measured.
In Malawi, What Works II Grantee Partner, the Pamodzi Kuthetsa Nkhanza (PKN) Consortium - funded through our scale grant window - brings together the Women’s Legal Resources Centre (WOLREC), the Girls Empowerment Network (GENET), and Women and Girls with Disability (WAG Disability). From the outset, the PKN programme has upheld a strong commitment to disability inclusion, grounded in the understanding that women and girls with disabilities face heightened risks of violence and significant barriers to support. WAG Disability has been instrumental in championing this focus, offering technical expertise and guidance that strengthens the consortium’s collective impact, and ensuring that activities, training, and resources are adapted so women and girls with disabilities can fully participate as leaders and activists.
Mapping the gaps and prioritising women and girls with disabilities’ lived experiences
Our recent Expert Group Meeting brought together approximately 30 global experts working in disability inclusion and violence against women. Participants shared lived and regional perspectives on disability and violence and worked together to ground violence measurements in real world experiences of women and girls with disabilities. Attendees then discussed the findings of a rapid evidence review on DSV, discussed gaps in the field, and mapped future directions for measuring VAW with disabilities. Importantly, progress was made on identifying key considerations and domains for two measurement requirements: 1) a module on VAW for disability-focused surveys and 2) a module on DSV for standard VAW surveys. Participants further proposed approaches for testing and validating current VAW and disability methodological approaches and ensuring good practice in research that involves women with disabilities.
To ensure women and girls with disabilities are included and their lived experiences are reflected, What Work II will continuously consult persons with disabilities and incorporate expert recommendations into its VAW research and programming - helping to build a world where every woman and girl can live free from violence.
More information
International Day of Persons with Disabilities is observed annually on December 3rd to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities and to increase awareness of disability issues.
16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence is taking place between 25 November – 10 December 2025.
Find out more about our Expert Group Meeting on improving measurement and data on violence against women with disabilities.
Footnotes
Learn about our Grantees
Our grants include Innovation and Scale grants across a number of focus areas. In our first funding round, eight grants have been awarded.