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.