Gender and Disability: advancing intersectional equity within international programming

Gender, Iag | September 10, 2025

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)’s new International Gender Equality Strategy seeks to address widespread gender inequity within their international development programs.

Teresa Lawler, Senior Disability Inclusion Advisor at CBM Australia’s Inclusion Advisory Group (IAG) shares insights into the work CBM IAG is undertaking within a gender and disability context, and how DFAT’s latest strategy intersects and affects this work and the communities we work with and support.  
 

At CBM Australia, we often talk about the additional and unique barriers faced by women and girls with disabilities. What does this mean in practice? 

It means recognising that – to paraphrase Audre Lorde – people don’t live single-issue lives. Women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities experience intersectional discrimination – where oppressive systems like sexism, ableism, and others, combine.  
 
This shows up, for example, in the higher rates of violence experienced by women with disabilities. They are up to three times more likely to experience sexual violence, and women with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities face even greater risks, including institutionalisation, forced sterilisation, and removal of their children. These are not just numbers, these are stories of deep injustice. 
 

“We also need to remember, though, the strength that comes with diverse lived experience.”

In CBM Australia’s work across the globe we’ve seen women with disabilities navigate these layers of discrimination with creativity and resilience. In some settings, the stigma that excludes women with disabilities from marriage also frees them from the social norms around unpaid care work – the ‘spinster dividend’.  
 
People are amazing at finding a way forward. But our systems do need to change. 

You work for the CBM Inclusion Advisory Group: how can organisations and programs working in development and humanitarian settings ensure all – including the most marginalised – are included in efforts to improve gender equality?  

If we really are committed to advancing gender equality and transforming systems and outcomes, we need to: 

• Listen deeply to lived experience, and create safe and accessible spaces for women and gender diverse people with disabilities to participate and lead. 
• Design programs with – not just for – those experiencing intersectional discrimination, recognising that those closest to the problem are also closest to the solution.
• Be reflexive and accountable, and constantly ask: who is missing from this conversation? Whose knowledge are we privileging? What power dynamics are at play and how do I contribute to these? 

CBM Inclusion Advisory Group has developed a Disability in GEDSI Analysis Quick Reference Guide. What does this seek to do? How can other organisations use this to implement best-practice programming?   

The Reference Guide supports these aims, and helps development practitioners apply a disability lens to GEDSI analysis. It includes a question guide to identify disability-specific issues, and a curated list of data sources to inform research. It is designed to align with the Gender@Work Framework, however it may be adapted alongside other analytical frameworks too. 
 
It’s grounded in practice and designed to help organisations Do No Harm, address systemic exclusion, and promote equity for people with disabilities of all genders in programming. 

How will the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)’s new International Gender Equality Strategy affect the work CBM Australia does for disability and gender equity?   

DFAT’s new International Gender Equality Strategy explicitly recognises intersectionality, and acknowledges that gender inequality is shaped by overlapping systems of oppression, including ableism. 
 
For CBM Australia, this is a welcome and significant step forward. It reinforces the need to ensure that women, girls, and gender diverse people with disabilities are not only included, but their rights and priorities centred in gender equality efforts. The strategy priorities offer clear opportunities for embedding disability equity, such as:  

• Investing in disability-inclusive prevention and response to sexual and gender-based violence, ensuring services are safe, accessible and responsive to women with disabilities. 
• Removing barriers to sexual and reproductive health and rights, enabling women with disabilities to access services with autonomy and dignity. 
• Supporting women with disabilities in locally-led leadership. 
• Designing humanitarian and climate programs with the different and heightened risks faced by women, men, and gender diverse people with disabilities in mind, and acknowledging the knowledge and leadership they bring to this space. 
   

“It’s a strong mandate for CBM Australia’s ongoing work embedding disability equity and rights, and continuing to move beyond inclusion towards equity and rights – ensuring that women, girls and gender-diverse people with disabilities are not just present, but leading and shaping transformative change.” 

Positionality statement: While having experienced some forms of intersectional discrimination, Teresa identifies as a straight, cisgender, white, Australian of settler origin, and she acknowledges the oppressive systems that have afforded her many unearned privileges. She is committed to learning from diverse lived experiences and perspectives and advancing intersectional, transformative approaches to disability equity and rights.  
 
Read more about the work CBM Australia is undertaking to advance gender equality and disability equity.

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