S E M El Messiri
Cairo, Egypt
The background
Disabled women in all countries suffer a dual discrimination, that is, that disability and being female interact in a profoundly discriminatory and disadvantaged way. Although there is a growing women's movement and disability rights movement yet it is noted that the majority of the visually impaired in Egypt are invisible and marginalized.
This paper looks at the situation of the visually impaired women in Egypt, the gender gap that exists between men and women and the social and cultural barriers underlying the discrimination against them.
The method
In order to achieve the purpose of this paper a survey was made of the providers institutions and organizations. Statistical records of education, labor force participation and employment were reviewed and some in depth interviews with the visually impaired were conducted.
Some of the major results are as follows:
·There is a gender gap in education, work force participation kind of employment and variety of social measures.
·Very few institutions are addressing the special needs of visually impaired women and no-one is addressing their strategic needs.
·The visually impaired have several rights according to law yet the law is one thing and implementation is another.
The conclusion
The main recommendation of this paper is essentially to adopt a "participatory" / "empowerment" approach which looks at visually impaired women as active participants in the development process.
Return to the ISLRR.ORG Home Page
