Forging an Inclusive and Gender Equitable Climate Action: Amplifying the Leadership of Girls and Women with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities make up the world’s largest minority—80% live in low- and middle-income countries. In Asia Pacific alone, nearly 108 million children with disabilities[i] face mounting climate risks, for instance, more treacherous typhoons, floods and heatwaves. These adversely affect children’s health, increase the risk for migration, and disrupts schooling and other essential services such as access to food and clean water. For girls and women with disabilities the burden is heavier – compounded by gender inequality and disability discrimination. They are two to three times more likely to experience abuse[ii], a risk that spikes during disasters.

This year’s milestones — from the Global Disability Summit to the Beijing Platform for Action’s 30th anniversary—echo one urgent call: inclusive, gender-responsive climate action. The Conference of the Parties on climate change surfaced similar demands from civil society and organization of persons with disabilities (OPDs) urging for better data, stronger regional cooperation, and investment in OPD-led solutions.

Climate change amplifies the unpaid care and domestic work for women and girls – even for women and girls with disabilities. Oftentimes, women and girls with disabilities are treated as passive recipients of care and support, a notion premised on an outdated viewpoint of disability. There is a lack of recognition on the role of women and girls with disabilities as providers – and not just receivers – of care. Moreover, perspectives of women and girls with disabilities have generally been excluded from dialogues on care and support. This violates the principle of the disability rights movement, “Nothing About Us, Without Us” which means meaningfully engaging women-focused organizations of persons with disabilities or girls with disabilities in all matters affecting them. Supporting women and girls with disabilities and care work is an emerging area of concern given the worsening impacts of climate change.  

World Vision is committed to advancing disability inclusion alongside child rights and gender equality. By 2026, we aim to reach five times more children with disabilities through inclusive education, WASH, health, and child protection and participation programs. In China, youth groups we support have grown from 12 to 20, creating spaces for girls and boys with disabilities to build confidence and engage with their community. Through initiatives like A Brighter Future for Children with Disabilities, we’ve raised awareness on disability issues in education and healthcare, fostering social inclusion. Xiaoyu, a girl with cerebral palsy, shared her aspiration: “I still love going out to play. I also want to help my mom more, like peeling beans or passing things to her.”[iii] Her words reflect the supportive role girls with disabilities play in care work and family life—roles often overlooked in climate and development discourse.

Women and girls with disabilities are not mere objects of pity or protection—they are leaders, caregivers, and agents of change. It’s time to move beyond token participation and invest in their leadership, amplify their voices, and ensure that climate resilience strategies uphold disability rights, child rights and gender equality. Because when climate action includes everyone, communities thrive.

Through World Vision’s Building Climate-adaptive Solutions through Inclusive Market Networks (BASIN) project, women with and without disabilities, and smallholder farmers are supported to take part and influence decision-making spaces in the agri-food system. Operating in the Mekong area, a region widely affected by the climate crises, BASIN project seeks to improve inclusive and resilient livelihoods towards climate smart practices. Oftentimes, persons with disabilities lack the information and support they need to meaningfully engage in decision-making spaces such as cooperatives and grassroots organizations. Women, persons with disabilities, especially women with disabilities, are central to BASIN activities, boosting their voices and agency at home, cooperatives, and expanding their roles in green value chains[iv]. 

In Dry Zone, Myanmar – an area frequented by dry spells and comparatively little rainfall –  women farmers with and without disabilities participated in another initiative that introduced intensive learning sessions focusing on nutrition, gender equality, and disability inclusion. The learning sessions included preparing nutrient-rich dishes despite reduced agricultural yields, one of the worst impacts of climate change. The sessions maximized available community resources and leveraged on individual and community knowledge underscoring the power of one’s lived experience and women with and without disabilities’ propensity to find solutions and take charge.[v]

As we celebrate the International Day of Persons with Disabilities this year, may we continue to forge on and forge with partners, allies, and advocates. Beyond this annual commemoration, forge with organization of persons with disabilities, women’s rights organizations and other unlikely allies for a holistic and grounded climate response. Cognizant of intersectional and compounding barriers, Ministries, CSOs, academe, and other societal actors must equitably invest resources to collect data, conduct research, and further understand the situation of Xiaoyu and other girls with disabilities, and consequently remove the barriers they are experiencing – be it in times of development or emergencies. An inclusive and gender equitable climate action means that women and children – girls and boys with disabilities like Xiaoyu – are in the center of decision-making. 

Written by Sierra Paraan, Gender Equality Disability Social Inclusion (GEDSI) Specialist Consultant, World Vision East Asia.