WYDE.EU: Women & Youth with Disabilities Empowerment for Europe

OTHER PROJECTS
Where
Italy
,
Europe
What
Inclusion
When
women in pose

The Project

The European project WYDE.EU: Women & Youth with Disabilities Empowerment for Europe is being implemented in Italy, Serbia, the Netherlands, and Lithuania with the co-funding of the European Union under the CERV – Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme. Its aim is to promote the active participation of young women with disabilities in the democratic, civic, and political life of the European Union.

To achieve this goal, the project seeks to create concrete opportunities for young women with disabilities to contribute to decision-making processes and the development of European policies, strengthening their leadership and their role in building a more inclusive, equitable, and representative Europe.

 

The Context

Although women with disabilities represent around 60% of the population of persons with disabilities and more than 25% of the female population in the European Union, they are still underrepresented in both disability rights movements and women's rights movements.

Young women with disabilities continue to face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination—including physical and digital barriers, cultural stereotypes, and structural inequalities—which limit their visibility, leadership, and opportunities to participate fully in shaping the future of European integration.

The situation of women and girls with disabilities remains considerably more disadvantaged than that of both women without disabilities and men with disabilities. According to the 2023 Gender Equality Index published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE):

  • 22% of women with disabilities are at risk of poverty, compared with 20% of men with disabilities and 16% of women without disabilities;

  • only 20% of women with disabilities are employed full-time, compared with 29% of men with disabilities and 48% of women without disabilities;

  • 35% of women with disabilities provide daily unpaid care to children, grandchildren, older people, or persons with disabilities, compared with 30% of men with disabilities and 33% of women without disabilities;

  • only 17% of women with disabilities attain tertiary education, compared with 18% of men with disabilities and 32% of women without disabilities;

  • 11% of women with disabilities report unmet healthcare needs for medical visits or examinations, compared with 10% of men with disabilities and 3% of women without disabilities.

 

Promoting leadership and self-representation within organisations of persons with disabilities and women's rights organisations is essential to addressing the challenges that women with disabilities continue to face.

 

General Objective

WYDE.EU aims to strengthen the participation of young women with disabilities in shaping the future of the European Union and its policies, ensuring that their experiences, perspectives, and proposals are meaningfully included in democratic processes and discussions on the EU's strategic priorities.

 

Specific Objectives

  • Strengthen the capacity of youth organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities by providing practical tools and skills to promote the genuine inclusion and participation of young women with disabilities.
     
  • Promote the empowerment of young women with disabilities by strengthening their leadership, autonomy, civic competences, and awareness of their rights, while supporting the development of participation networks.
     
  • Create inclusive spaces for participation and dialogue by fostering structured exchanges between young women with disabilities, public institutions, and local and European communities.
     
  • Raise awareness among institutions and stakeholders and encourage them to support policies and practices that ensure the active participation of young women with disabilities in democratic processes.

 

Through these objectives, WYDE.EU seeks to ensure that young women with disabilities become active contributors to the European democratic dialogue and play a meaningful role in shaping the future of the European Union.

 

Direct Target Group

  • Young women with disabilities aged 18–35 in Italy, Serbia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and across Europe.

 

Indirect Target Groups

  • Youth organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities.
  • Public authorities and European Union institutions.
  • Policy-makers, educators, trainers, and civic participation facilitators.

 

Activities

To achieve its objectives, the project will implement the following key activities:

  • Engaging young women with disabilities to analyse their knowledge, needs, and barriers to participation, and involving them in the co-design and delivery of a capacity-building programme for more than 100 youth organisations and organisations of persons with disabilities, aimed at strengthening their ability to promote the participation of young women with disabilities in European policymaking.
     
  • Validating and piloting the empowerment programme, first through a workshop with young women with disabilities to gather feedback and ensure that the content is accessible and aligned with their needs and priorities, and subsequently through a train-the-trainers programme for educators, trainers, and social sector professionals.
     
  • Mapping and assessing existing participation spaces for young women with disabilities in order to make them more effective and accessible, and co-designing and delivering the workshop "Rethinking Spaces of Participation" to test and promote inclusive participation models at the European level.
     
  • Developing the Manifesto "Young Women with Disabilities' Voices for an Inclusive Europe", bringing together proposals from young women with disabilities to be presented as recommendations to local, national, and European institutions.
     
  • Implementing a European awareness-raising campaign and organising a final European event to promote participation, increase awareness of the rights of young women with disabilities, disseminate the project's results, and highlight the contribution of young women with disabilities to the development of more inclusive European policies.

 

Results

    1. INCREASED AWARENESS
European and local institutions, youth organisations, and organisations of persons with disabilities will gain a deeper understanding of the barriers and enabling factors affecting the participation of young women with disabilities and will adopt approaches, practices, and models that facilitate their active engagement.

    2. INCREASED KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS 
Youth organisations, organisations of persons with disabilities, and young women with disabilities will strengthen their knowledge, competences, and practical tools to promote the participation of young women with disabilities and make participation spaces more inclusive, accessible, and effective.

    3. INCREASED OPPORTUNITIES FOR PARTICIPATION AND DIALOGUE
Young women with disabilities will strengthen their dialogue with policy-makers and increase their contribution to European policy development processes.

 

Partners

 

         

 

     

 

 

Co-funded by the European Union.

 

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.