NAIROBI, KENYA / AGILITYPR.NEWS / March 05, 2026 / Sightsavers warns that women with disabilities face a double penalty and calls for urgent investment to break the cycle

The latest World Economic Forum data shows it will take at least 123 years¹ for women to reach full parity with men across health, education, economic participation, and political empowerment. A century ago, women could not vote, the lightbulb was new, and Paris’s Eiffel Tower had just been built. Although the world has transformed since then, at the current pace, women and girls will wait just as long for basic equity. The international development organisation Sightsavers says this is not a gap, but a dynasty of injustice set to span five to six generations of women unless urgent action is taken.

Even this 123-year projection may underestimate the true scale of inequality, particularly for women with disabilities. Global gender metrics largely measure average gaps and rarely capture the compounded exclusion faced by women with disabilities, leaving millions statistically invisible.

While the gender gap spans multiple indicators, one of the most powerful drivers² of long-term change is economic empowerment. Without much-needed investment to expand women’s access to decent work, skills, and financial independence, progress across other indicators will remain slow.

Today, one in every ten women lives in poverty³. Unless disparities are addressed, 351 million women⁴, around 8% of the global female population, will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030, the deadline set to end it. Women with disabilities face even steeper barriers to employment, entrepreneurship and asset ownership, driven by discrimination, inaccessible workplaces and limited access to skills training and finance.

With economic participation parity projected to take over a decade longer than 123 years, Sightsavers is calling for targeted, disability-inclusive investment to accelerate progress.

“We do not have to accept a 123-year wait or longer for equality,” said Sarah Wang’ombe, Technical Advisor on Economic Empowerment at Sightsavers. “Disability-inclusive investments in women’s health and livelihoods can compress over a century of waiting into transformative change right away. Our programmes worldwide show that when women, especially women with disabilities, gain economic power, families and communities grow stronger, and economies expand. Investing in women, especially those with disabilities, is an undervalued investment opportunity which even the World Bank acknowledges could add up to US$21 trillion to the global GDP⁵.”

In Malawi, Ruth Peter, a widowed mother of three with visual impairment, once doubted her worth due to stigma. Through Sightsavers’ economic empowerment programme, she learned how to make soap and also improved productivity of her millet farm, building sustainable income streams. “I stopped looking down on myself,” she says. “Even without a husband, I can live an independent life. That makes me happy. My children have what they need and we can share with our community.”

In Uganda, Knighty Akwero’s story reflects a similar transformation. Stigma, because of her disability, led to a loss of confidence. An encounter with a Sightsavers programme changed her life. She learned tailoring skills and now runs her own shop where she trains tailoring apprentices and makes enough income to support her family. “Growing up I never imagined such a future,” she says. “But, when I gained [this] knowledge, I saw a change in my life.”

END

Notes to Editor:

For further information, to set up interviews, and other inquiries, please contact Julius Omokhunu, senior media officer (inclusion), Sightsavers on jomokhunu@sightsavers.org / +44 (0) 7352 489941 (WhatsApp)

References

1. World Economic Forum, 2025. Global Gender Gap Report 2025
2. UN Women. Facts and figures: Economic empowerment
3. UN Women, 2025. Gender equality in 2025: Gains, gaps, and the USD 342 trillion choice
4. UN Women, 2025. Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: the gender snapshot 2025
5. Pennings, S., 2022. A Gender Employment Gap Index (GEGI): A Simple Measure of the Economic Gains from Closing Gender Employment Gaps. World Bank Group, 2022