Toronto, March 8th, 2016: International
Women’s Day encourages us all to reflect on the importance of gender equality, to
celebrate the successes of women, and to acknowledge the work that is still
left to be done.
“With
women making up more than 50% of the world’s population and often being the
main link for the family and connection to the community, there remains a great
deal of work to be done to ensure equal rights in all aspects of life,” says
WBU Immediate Past President and Chair of the International Disability
Alliance, Maryanne Diamond.
For women
who are blind, access to information, health,
and reproductive rights, education, employment and participation in all aspects
of the community must be supported to achieve equality with other women and
with men. For example, blind women’s access to information is a serious issue,
especially health and reproductive information. Just as sighted women want access to the latest health and
parenting information, so do blind women. However, unlike sighted women, most
blind women do not have access to the array of materials available due to the
inaccessibility of printed materials, especially reference materials. Less than
10% of printed materials are made into accessible formats and in developing
countries it’s often less than 1%. With the appropriate support and
information, blind women are as effective and competent as sighted women are at
raising children and caring for their families.
One way we can improve blind women’s access to information is
by advocating for the universal ratification and implementation of the Marrakesh Treaty. This treaty will
allow for more books and printed materials to be published in accessible
formats, and for blindness organizations to share books across borders
providing access to a wider variety of printed materials for blind and
partially sighted women all over the world.
Blind and partially sighted girls also suffer from a lack of
access to information, especially in developing countries, where less than 1%
of blind girls receive a full education. Most developing countries’ inclusive
educational systems do not have the resources or specialized teachers required
to effectively educate blind children, which often means the best option
available is a specialized school. Families are often hesitant to send their
blind girl child to these schools, even more than a blind boy child. This
hesitancy is often grounded in both the fear of sending their blind daughter to
a school in the city, especially when she is from a rural area, and also from the
perceived low value of a girl’s education. Many families are not aware of
opportunities that are available to blind girls and women to become gainfully
employed and to be fully active and productive members of their communities. Access
to information and education are keys to unlocking these opportunities, so we
must work to overcome the multiple barriers to information and education that
exist for blind women and girls.
You can
learn more about the Marrakesh Treaty on our
campaign page:
www.worldblindunion.org/English/our-work/our-priorities/Pages/right-2-read-campaign.aspx
The World Blind Union (WBU) is the global
organization representing the estimated 285 million people worldwide who are
blind or partially sighted. Members consist of organizations run by blind
people advocating on their own behalf and
organizations that serve the blind, in over 190 countries, as well as
international organizations working in the field of vision impairment. Visit
our website at www.wbu.ngo
For further information, contact:
World Blind Union
Caitlin Reid
Communications Coordinator
Caitlin.Reid@wbu.ngo