Accelerating Action: Disabled Women in Work & Business
This year, International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 calls for us to ‘Accelerate Action’ toward gender equality.
Despite a roughly equal gender split in disability statistics, many disabled women find their challenges invisible in broader gender discussions.
On days like today, I like to add the additional barriers disabled women face, be it in employment, leadership, or entrepreneurship, as this is often an intersection that is left out of the narrative of days like today.
Challenges for Disabled Women in Employment and Leadership:
Higher Discrimination: Disabled women report more workplace discrimination than both disabled men and non-disabled women.
Fear of Disclosure: Invisible or fluctuating conditions (e.g., chronic pain, mental health, neurodivergence) often go undisclosed due to fear of bias.
Double Pay Gap: Disabled women can earn significantly less than both disabled men and non-disabled women, compounding gender wage gaps.
Underrepresentation: Leadership and professional development programs rarely address the unique needs of disabled women, leaving them out of decision-making pipelines.
Challenges for Disabled Women in Entrepreneurship:
Self-Employment as a Necessity, Not a Choice: Many disabled women turn to entrepreneurship out of necessity due to workplace discrimination, lack of accommodations, or inflexible job structures. While self-employment offers flexibility, it also means less job security, irregular income, and difficulty in securing financial safety nets.
Chronic Illness & Fluctuating Capacity: “Hustle culture” can exclude those who thrive best with flexible, sustainable business practices. Many business resources assume consistent work patterns, which clashes with the reality of fluctuating health conditions (e.g., POTS, ME/CFS, autoimmune disorders).
Lack of Inclusive Business Networks & Mentorship: Entrepreneurial spaces (accelerators, co-working spaces, networking events) often fail to consider disability accessibility. Disabled women may also struggle to find mentors who understand both the gendered and disability-related barriers they face.
Limited Access to Funding: Disabled women often face double discrimination in accessing funding, both as women and as disabled entrepreneurs. Many business grants, loans, and investment opportunities fail to consider fluctuating work capacity or non-traditional career paths due to disability. Women with disabilities who have been under-diagnosed or misdiagnosed may not have the formal recognition needed to access disability-related financial support.
Increased Cost of Business Operations: Access needs (adaptive tech, personal assistants, flexible workspace solutions) add additional financial burdens that able-bodied counterparts don’t face. Health-related costs (e.g., medical care, therapy, specialist equipment) can consume capital that could otherwise be reinvested into business growth.
Broadening Our Lens: Disability & Intersectionality
Visible vs. Invisible: Not all disabilities are apparent, and assumptions about “legitimacy” can harm women who need accommodations.
Intersecting Identities: Disabled women of colour, LGBTQ+ disabled women, and those from lower-income backgrounds face additional systemic barriers.
Trans & Non-Binary Inclusivity: Trans women and non-binary people with disabilities often face the same workplace inequities and should be included in gender equality efforts.
Ways to Create Meaningful Change
Integrate Disability into Gender Equity: Ensure all gender-focused initiatives proactively consider accessibility.
Offer Flexible Progression Pathways: Provide remote and adaptive leadership programs, along with flexible schedules.
Address the Pay Gap: Track and close pay gaps through transparent salary bands and regular audits.
Build Intersectional DEI: Combine disability, gender, race, and other identity factors in one cohesive strategy.
Adapt to Global Contexts: Align with relevant laws (e.g., ADA, Equality Act) and tailor solutions to regional needs.
Want to explore this further?
The Disability Force supports disabled employees and entrepreneurs, and helps organisations build inclusive workplaces with coaching, consultancy, and training. Get in touch and let’s have a chat and see if we can help you.
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Image description: A graphic created by us using Canva. At the top, women of different ethnicities, ages, and styles hold hands, and this was a ready-made Canva graphic. Of course, some of these woman may have invisible disabilities, but we have also added to our customised graphic many visibly disabled women too. This illustrates the importance of intersectionality on International Women’s Day to include disability too.