“Society is the Disability”: Disabled Women and Work

4th June 2020

Women in Wales share many of the same challenges throughout their working lives, but opportunities and experiences at work are shaped not singularly by gender, but by intersecting factors like disability, ethnicity, nationality and age.

In order to ensure that women in Wales are able to achieve and prosper within the workforce, and to achieve equality of outcome for all women, it is crucial that we understand these varied intersectional experiences.

This report considers the experiences of disabled women; the barriers they have faced in work and the opportunities for improvement. It makes apparent where these experiences have been shaped by disability and gender; highlighting differences between disabled women and men.

We hope that the recommendations made in this report for employers, UK and Welsh Government will be taken forward, and that the experiences of these women can be used to inform decision making to ensure that we can achieve equality of outcome for all women.

“Society is the Disability”: Disabled women and work  

This report considers the experiences of disabled women; the barriers they have faced in work and the opportunities for improvement.

Summary report
Other downloads
Full Report

Chwarae Teg’s report brings a welcome focus on the specific experiences and barriers faced by disabled women in entering and progressing in the workplace. Despite legislation being introduced twenty-five years ago to tackle employment related disability discrimination, disabled people are twice as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people.

“The report highlights the gendered nature of this discrimination with disabled women being even less likely to be employed than disabled men, as well as experiencing a greater pay gap. Successive governments have focussed on making disabled people ‘work-ready’ rather than addressing the structural inequality that excludes so many disabled people from society let alone the workplace. Given the likelihood of mass unemployment in the wake of phasing out of lockdown, the ‘Society is the Disability’ report is particularly pertinent amid fears that disabled women will be at the back of a very long queue.
Rhian Davies
Chief Executive of Disability Wales 
4th Jun 2020
“Society is the disability”: Chwarae Teg’s new research reveals the discrimination faced by disabled women in work
Post