In collaboration with the advocacy group Women with Disabilities (FmB), the project creates spaces for mentors to engage in dialogue, exchange ideas, and learn together, thereby making a significant contribution to greater equality and violence prevention.

Data shows that women* with disabilities in Austria are systematically disadvantaged in key areas of life. They are significantly less likely to be employed—among people with a “registered disability,” only 12.1 percent of women* are employed, compared to 18.4 percent of men (Statistik Austria 2025). These inequalities increase the risk of poverty and social exclusion in old age: 24 percent of women* with disabilities are considered at risk of poverty or exclusion, compared to 15 percent of women without disabilities (Statistik Austria 2024).

Many women* also report high levels of psychological stress, a lower quality of life, and a particularly intense mental load, as they have to cope with financial responsibility, care work, and everyday barriers simultaneously under difficult conditions.

These realities of life contradict Austria’s human rights and women’s rights obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). In General Comment No. 3, the UN CRPD Committee emphasizes the importance of self-determination, participation, equal pay, barrier-free working conditions, and personal assistance.

Our new project, “Women* with Disabilities as Mentors for Economic Self-Determination – Strategies for Reducing Mental Load,” addresses precisely these issues and contributes to strengthening self-determination, reducing dependencies, and empowering women* with disabilities in the long term.