Political participation of women with disabilities.

What is the present reality facing differently abled women with regard to participation in general? Are women with disability visible? If they are, where are they visible? What prevents their visibility? Do you see them in the family? Do you see them participating actively in the community? Are they visible in meaningful positions in the disability movement? I will not even ask the question in relation to their participation in the political mainstream.

We need to understand the factors that make it difficult for differently abled women to engage actively. We need to recognise the double, even multiple sources of invisibility of certain categories of women and girls. Depending on economic status, ethnicity, tribe, (dis)ability, colour, caste, HIV status, and age, some women and girls may suffer multiple forms of discrimination, thus making their functioning in civil society particularly difficult.

We are discriminated against by our fellow women. We are discriminated against as we grow up in our families, because we are regarded as not valuable. This discrimination affects our educational opportunities. A boy with disabilities is more likely to be sent to school than a girl, as he will be expected to make a living for himself as an adult. And his family will always be able to find a woman to marry and take care of him. But for a girl with disability it's different, why would she need an education? And what would she be good for as a wife? We are further discriminated if we become HIV positive--as people wonder 'how can she have a sex life?'

We are even discriminated against by men with disabilities in our own movement. The dominance of men in leadership at different levels in our society is mirrored in the disability movement. The point I am making is that the playing field is not level. The same structural injustices (traditional beliefs, prejudices and practices) that exist in our society and cultures affect women with disabilities in particular, as they do women in general. Unless we understand this, we will not know how to level the playing field. The stakes are heavily loaded against women with disabilities.

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There is no doubt as to the crucial importance of political participation of women with disabilities at all levels of our society, but we need to see this happening in the context of a process. In other words, political participation is not a single event but can only be achieved through a process that utilises a variety of means, among which the following are included:

- We should build effective groups and organisations of women with disabilities as part of a strategy of capacity building. Our own structures give us the space and confidence to build our political skills, among other things.

- The self-representative structures of women with disabilities have a primary responsibility of creating awareness in the community about the situation facing women with disabilities.

- Through their organisations women with disabilities need to engage effectively with the national disability movement and challenge it in terms of the issues of gender equity, power and leadership.

- Again through their organisations, women with disabilities need to engage in the broader women's movement so as to ensure the inclusion of their particular point of view on issues of political participation.

- Political parties must be challenged concerning the extent to which they accommodate women with disabilities and their issues.

In conclusion, women with disabilities' views, needs and interests must shape the agenda for development with the same weight as men's issues, to ensure that the development agenda supports the achievement of more equal relations between women and men. It should be recognised that every development initiative affects women and men differently. Perspectives need to be interrogated and given equal weight in the programme responses of our different organisations.

(Alexia Ncube gave this address to a trainers workshop of the Namibian Women's Manifesto Network in May.)