Empowerment Journeys of Women with Disabilities: A Case Study

Social inclusion of women with disabilities is currently an extremely complex challenge, an educational emergency, which mainly involves Special Education. The development of the international normative framework did not help the majority of women with disabilities, who are still socially underprivileged and are often victims of multi-discrimination, which is part of an extensive process of feminization of poverty. Starting from the above mentioned daunting overview, the article aims at contributing to the debate on the need to reinforce a theoretical and methodological framework of interpretation. Such framework should be able to link the conditions of gender and disability together, thus pursuing an emancipating perspective. The article aspires to reflect on potential perspectives of social development, combining and balancing social protection elements with educational and employment opportunities through empowerment processes designed for women with disabilities. Such reflection will move its steps from the case-study on a journey of social and employment inclusion embraced by women with disabilities living in the difficult context of Gaza Strip.