Leadership for change: pathways to activism for African women with disability

Abstract

In African countries, women with disability encounter severe discrimination as their devalued status as women intersects with negative and hostile community attitudes toward disability. Women with disability who are engaged as leaders in the disability movement play a vital role in addressing this discrimination. Through in-depth interviews, this study examined barriers and pathways to leadership encountered by women with disability from Tanzania, Ghana, and Kenya who were active within the disability movement. By dismantling and reshaping stigmatising attitudes the participants had been able to form a positive sense of self and gain the self-esteem needed to succeed as leaders. Publicly, they defied traditional gender roles by leveraging their privileged status as leaders; Leadership was often linked to educational attainment, and being educated legitimised and their achievements as women. Using an intersectional lens, this study sheds further light on the discrimination specific to African women with disability and the strategies that they employ to overcome them.