Rural women with disabilities in post-conflict zones: the forgotten sisters of Australia’s disability-inclusive development

Abstract

International interventions to reconstruct post-conflict societies emerging from civil war, genocide and violence have introduced formal democratic systems as the cornerstone to peace-building and the re-establishment of legitimate political systems. Political and gendered cultural systems and norms however, may be in tension with international demands for rights-based, participatory governance. This article explores these tensions within the context of the Australian Government’s disability-inclusive agenda in its aid and development programme in post-conflict Cambodia. Although the ‘interaction between gender and disability’ is a guiding principle of Australia’s aid programme, extensive analysis suggests that in practice it is largely gender-neutral.

Keywords:

• Cambodia
• disability-inclusive development
• post-conflict
• rural
• women with disabilities
• Australian Government disability aid programme

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Australian Research Development Awards, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for funding the research our paper draws upon and the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University for final editorial support. We would particularly like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their extensive feedback and the guest editors for their commitment, time and energy provided to us throughout the writing process.

Notes

1. WHO and World Bank, World Report on Disability.

2. de Alwis, “The Intersections of the CEDAW and CRPD”; and UNCSW, “Rural Women and Girls with Disabilities.”

3. Gartrell et al., “Making the Invisible Visible”; and Samararatne and Soldatic, “Inclusions and Exclusions in Law.”

4. Bishop, “Address to Dialogue on Sexual Violence in Conflict”; Gartrell et al., “Making the Invisible Visible”; Gartrell and Hoban, “Structural Vulnerability, Disability and Access”; Kett, “Disability and Poverty in Post-conflict Countries”; and Samararatne and Soldatic, “Inclusions and Exclusions in Law.”

5. Wilson, “Human Rights of Girls and Women with Disabilities in Developing Countries”; and Williams, “Best Practice for International Collaboration on Preventing Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities.”

6. Ojendal and Lilja, Beyond Democracy in Cambodia; and McGrew et al., Good Governance from the Ground Up.

7. Ibid.

8. McGrew et al., Good Governance from the Ground Up.

9. Kiernan, The Pol Pot Regime.

10. Ibid., 241–2; and Öjendal and Ou, “The ‘Local Turn’ Saving Liberal Peacebuilding.”

11. Ibid.

12. Ojendal and Lilja, Beyond Democracy in Cambodia.

13. McLaughlin and Wickeri, Mental Health and Human Rights in Cambodia.

14. Ojendal and Lilja, Beyond Democracy in Cambodia, 8.

15. Brinkerhoff, “Rebuilding Governance in Failed States and Post-Conflict Societies,” 5.

16. Ibid.

17. Mc Crew et al., 2004.

18. Gartrell and Hoban, “Structural Vulnerability, Disability and Access”; and Samararatne and Soldatic, “Inclusions and Exclusions in Law.”

19. Department of Census and Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2001; and National Institute of Statistics, Cambodia Socio-economic Survey 2004.

20. Gleeson, Geographies of Disability.

21. Kitchin, “‘Out of Place’, ‘Knowing One’s Place’,” 344.

22. UNDP, UNICEF and WHO, Disability Rights Initiative Cambodia.

23. Commonwealth of Australia, Towards a Disability-inclusive Australian Aid Program 2009–2014; and Strategy Strengthening Disability-inclusive Development in Australia’s Aid Program.

24. UNDP, UNICEF and WHO, Disability Rights Initiative Cambodia.

25. McCrew et al. 2004.

26. Zook, “Disability and Demography.”

27. Ibid.

28. Gartrell, “‘A Frog in a Well’.”

29. Zook, “Disability and Democracy.”

30. Gartrell, “‘A Frog in a Well’.”

31. Commonwealth of Australia, Towards a Disability-inclusive Australian Aid Program 2009–2014; and Strategy Strengthening Disability-inclusive Development in Australia’s Aid Program.

32. Zook, “Disability and Democracy.”

33. UNCSW, “Rural Women and Girls with Disabilities.”

34. de Alwis, “The Intersections of the CEDAW and CRPD”; and UNCSW, “Rural Women and Girls with Disabilities.”

35. Thomas, « Introduction. »; and Groce et al., « Poverty and Disability.”

36. FAO, The State of Food and Agriculture.