On International Women’s Day, HI Shines a Light on Women with Disabilities in Crisis

International Women’s Day is a global call for gender empowerment, equality, and protection. Yet for millions of women with disabilities, they remain out of reach.

On International Women's Day, Humanity & Inclusion (HI) is shining a light on the resilience of women and girls with disabilities whose lives have been shaped by conflict. In places like the occupied Palestinian territory, war and long-standing inequalities compound the barriers they already face, limiting access to education, employment, healthcare, and safety.

Hannah Guedenet, HI-US Executive Director, says, “Women and girls with disabilities face compounded barriers to education, employment, healthcare, and safety. This International Women's Day, Humanity & Inclusion calls for action on what matters most: accessible services, economic opportunity, protection from violence, and a genuine voice in decisions that affect their lives.” She continues, “Inclusion means removing these barriers and walking alongside women with disabilities to achieve real change."

In the occupied Palestinian territory, an estimated 115,000 persons with disabilities lived in the West Bank and Gaza before the latest war, with women and girls making up nearly half of this population. Women with disabilities face significant disparities: illiteracy rates are more than double those of men with disabilities, and labor force participation is drastically lower. They are also more likely to experience violence and exclusion from essential services.

These numbers reflect not just loss and hardship, but intersectional injustice. But exclusion does not define them; their resilience does. 

"On International Women’s Day, we are reminded that equality cannot exist while women and girls with disabilities remain excluded from education, livelihoods, and protection. Behind every statistic are women and girls showing extraordinary resilience in the face of conflict and exclusion,” said Sylvain Ogier, HI’s General Secretary. “In conflict settings, these barriers become even more severe. We must ensure that humanitarian response and recovery efforts place women with disabilities at the center, recognizing both their rights and their leadership in rebuilding their communities.”

Since October 2023, war-related injuries have added tens of thousands of new lifelong disability cases, including over 10,000 women, while nearly 70% of children with disabilities, including girls, in Gaza remain out of school.