Exploring intersectional and ethical feminist perspectives as a possible framework for understanding violence against women with disabilities in Africa with specific reference to forced sterilisation

Johnson, A; Van, Marle, K

doi:10.4324/9781003410089-26

Exploring intersectional and ethical feminist perspectives as a possible framework for understanding violence against women with disabilities in Africa with specific reference to forced sterilisation

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Adetokunbo (Ade) Johnson ORCiD

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Abstract

Globally, human rights for disabled people have grown rapidly during the last two decades. There has been a shift from understanding disability as a charitable issue to a subject of rights. Yet the voice of the ‘disabled’ woman remains marginalised in Africa. Historically, mainstream feminist and disability perspectives have ignored the specific concerns and violence encountered by disabled women in Africa. Studies document how African women with disabilities are more likely to experience distinct forms of violence because of the intersecting identities of gender and disability that they embody that non-disabled women do not necessarily face. One distinct form of violence against women with disabilities is forced sterilisation. In this chapter, we explore whether the disabled African woman’s encounters and experiences of forced sterilisation could be better understood from a reconfiguration of relational and intersectional perspectives. The argument to be developed is that an ethical feminist and intersectional lens could better defy the hierarchies that reinforce violence against women with disabilities, evident in the dangerous practice of forced sterilisation in Africa.