A bright yellow poster shows a list 5 of headings. It has CBM and the Transforming Communities for Inclusion logos. The poster reads:
Identity and Power
Women with psychosocial disabilities are often viewed only through a medical and diagnostic lens — labelled as patients, mentally ill, or of ‘unsound mind’. Gender stereotypes such as being hysterical or over‑emotional further reinforce discrimination.
‘We are not incapable or in need of management or protection. We are persons with psychosocial disabilities and rights holders with our own will and preferences’
Denial of Legal Capacity & Substituted Decision‑Making
Women with psychosocial disabilities are routinely denied legal capacity — the right to make decisions about their own lives.
Decisions about their bodies, relationships, living arrangements and support are frequently made for women with psychosocial disabilities by others, often under the mask of ‘best interests’.
Women with psychosocial disabilities face heightened risk of this paternalistic discrimination.
Gender equality is impossible without equal legal capacity.
Coercion, Violence and Abuse
Women with psychosocial disabilities face heightened risks of violence and coercive practices, including forced treatment, over‑medication, institutionalization, confinement, shackling, family control, and sexual and gender‑based violence – both within homes and institutions.
These harms are structural and rooted in discrimination, not in individual’s perceived vulnerability.
Violations are often hidden, normalized, or justified as ‘care’.
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Women with psychosocial disabilities experience severe violations of their sexual and reproductive rights, including forced sterilization, force abortions, FGM and hysterectomies.
This violates rights to freedom from violence, abuse and exploitation, and from the use of inhuman, degrading and tortuous treatments.
SRHR cannot exist without consent, legal capacity and meaningful participation
Intersectional discrimination
Women with psychosocial disabilities experience intersecting and compounded discrimination not only on the basis of disability, but also gender, age, poverty, race, sexuality, geographical location or other identities.
This means they fall through the gaps of policy, advocacy and support systems.
‘We are marginalised in both disability and gender spaces’
Developed for the Women Deliver Conference
CBM Australia × TCI Global