Monitoring Committee: Women with disabilities are made invisible

Media study shows: women with disabilities appear in only every third post regarding people with disabilities

Vienna (OTS) – The invisibility of women with disabilities inevitably leads to the invisibility of the problems and discrimination faced by women with disabilities. On the occasion of International Women’s Day on 08.03. the Independent Monitoring Committee shows that this contradicts Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN-CRPD). Austria has committed itself to protecting women and girls with disabilities from discrimination and to allowing them to participate equally in all areas of life. The interests of women and girls with disabilities are massively neglected in Austria, which will also be a topic of the UN state examination in autumn on the implementation of the UN CRPD in Austria.

Media Affairs’ Maria Pernegger recently presented the latest edition of the mass media study on people with disabilities: “People with disabilities are still grossly underrepresented in mass media and on their social media channels. There is also a clear gender gap in the media: just under a third of the people with disabilities present are women. That is a value far below gender parity, even if a positive upward trend can be observed.”

“The Current Mass Media Study proves what women with disabilities have known for a long time. We women with disabilities are far too little visible in our society. If people with disabilities appear in the media, 2/3 of them are men with disabilities. As a result, society’s view of disability is largely shaped by men with disabilities, and that has to change.” Christine Steger, Chair of the Monitoring Committee

Questions & contact:

Independent Monitoring Committee
Heidemarie Egger
Press and public relations
[phone]
[e-mail]
www.monitoringausschuss.at