Women Enabled International

Worldwide, 58% of girls with disabilities never make it past the primary education level.

58% of girls with disabilities never make it past the primary education level.

For women with disabilities, the global literacy rate is 1%.

Just 19.6% of women with disabilities worldwide are employed.

Women and girls with disabilities are two to three times more likely to experience gender-based violence than are non-disabled women -- and they are often denied the right to make informed decisions about what happens to their body, including making decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

Statistics like these are what motivated founder Stephanie Ortoleva to begin Women Enabled International (WEI) in 2010. Working at the intersection of women’s rights and disability rights, WEI serves as a global resource, fostering cooperation for understanding, policy development and cultural changes that enhance and advance the rights and empowerment of all women and girls, but especially women with disabilities. WEI's signature advocacy and education programs highlight the impact on women and girls with disabilities from issues such as denial of sexual and reproductive health rights, gender-based and sexual violence, and restricted access to justice, education, and employment. Through increased partnerships, training and influence with national governments, regional, international and non-governmental organizations, and through collaborations with women’s rights and disabled women’s rights organizations worldwide, WEI works hard to ensure the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities in international and regional policy and development, program design and implementation.