Acknowledgements endorsements Background methodology executive Summary 11 Recommendations 22 Article — general obligations 38

RECOMMENDATIONS Article 5

• 
  That Australian anti discrimination laws are strengthened to:
  

• 
  address intersectional discrimination;
  
• 
  enable complaints to be heard in a no cost jurisdiction;
  
• 
  enable representative complaints by Disabled People’s and Advocacy Organisations; and
  
• 
  enable complaints regarding vilification and hate crimes on the basis of disability.
  

Article 6 — wOMEN WITH dISABILITIES

STATUS IN AUSTRALIA

Situation and Data about Girls and Women with Disability in Australia

105. 
     Women with disability make up about 20.1 percent of the population of Australian women, equating to about two million people.³⁷ It has been recognised that they face a “double disadvantage” due to the fact that “they are discriminated against on the basis of gender, and as people they are discriminated against on the basis of their disability”.³⁸
     
106. 
     There is little data or research about the specific situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and women with disability and girls and women with disability from non-English speaking backgrounds, but information reported in consultations strongly suggests that significant discrimination and disadvantage is faced by these groups.
     
107. 
     In the 2006 Concluding Observations made by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee), concerns were expressed to Australia about the lack of reporting of data disaggregated by gender, sex and disability which would support effective analysis of legal and policy measures taken towards the practical realisation of equality for women.³⁹ (See also Article 31)
     
108. 
     In the 2010 Concluding Observations made by the CEDAW Committee, a number of concerns were expressed to Australia about the situation of girls and women with disability, particularly in relation to educational and employment disadvantage, lack of participation in leadership and decision-making positions, the high levels of violence and the ongoing practice of non-therapeutic sterilisation.⁴⁰ The CEDAW Committee urged Australia, “in light of its recent ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the situation of women with disabilities in Australia”.⁴¹