Toronto,
Canada, March 8th, 2017: Today we mark International Women’s Day, a day
that encourages all of us to stand up for the empowerment of all women and
girls worldwide and to work towards a more gender inclusive world. The theme
for International Women’s Day 2017 is Be Bold for Change, a
theme which urges us to reflect on the changes that we would like to see in the
world in regards to gender equality and inclusion.
The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) estimates
that “close
to two-thirds of the world’s blind are women” and this increased burden of
vision loss is heavily related to negative attitudes and discrimination that women
and girls regularly face because they are female and because they have a
disability.
Blind and partially sighted women and girls are more likely to be marginalized
and disadvantaged than blind and partially sighted men and boys and they are
more likely to be discriminated against than sighted women and girls. On
average, they have less access to education, affordable healthcare services,
employment opportunities, and experience isolation at higher rates than blind
or partially sighted men. This is true even within the blindness community. For
example, most organizations of and for the blind are led by men, and there are
far fewer female Executives and Board Presidents.
“All of us working to defend the rights of blind and partially sighted
people must also work to ensure that blind and partially sighted women have the
skills needed and are offered the opportunities to take on senior roles within
our own blindness organizations,” said Dr. Penny Hartin, CEO of WBU. “In my own
case, as a Canadian woman with vision loss, I had access to education and was
afforded the necessary opportunities, but many of these same opportunities are
not available to women in the developing world,” she explained.
For this International Women’s Day, the WBU calls for all of us to
prioritize the rights of blind and partially sighted women and to work towards
changing the negative attitudes and discrimination that blind women face daily.
They must have full access to essential
services, employment opportunities and to the vital information that they need in order to participate fully in all
aspects of life, the same as everyone else does.
“Women and girls who are blind or partially sighted must be empowered to
realize their full rights, both as women and as human beings,” added Dr.
Hartin.
To learn more about how you can help end discrimination against women
and girls who are partially sighted, please visit the WBU website.
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:
Caitlin Reid
Communications Officer, World Blind Union
Caitlin.Reid@wbu.ngo