1. Gender mainstreaming in favour of the rights of persons with disabilities
A. In Greece, the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020, which constitutes an initiative taken by the General Secretariat for Gender Equality (GSGE), i.e. the governmental organization in charge of equality between women and men, comprises the following six policy areas with concrete objectives and distinctive synergies with competent stakeholders, covering in that way all fields of both public and private life in favour of young women and men, as well as girls and boys:
i) social inclusion and equal treatment of women facing multiple discrimination
ii) combating violence against women
iii) labour market, work-family reconciliation
iv) education, training, media, culture, sports
v) health
vi) equal participation of women in decision-making.
The National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020 has been included as a good practice in the 2016 Report on Equality between Women and Men in the European Union (European Commission, Brussels, March 2017): pages 51-52 of the EC Report http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/document.cfm?doc_id=43416 .
The issue of the rights of persons with disabilities is mainly covered by the chapter on social inclusion and equal treatment of women facing multiple discrimination, as well as by the one on health with the following six objectives:
- integrating a gender perspective into legislation and public policies for vulnerable social groups
- strengthening of the GSGE in designing targeted policies for women who suffer multiple discrimination and enhancing the collection and diffusion of gender disaggregated data
- ensuring equality and non-discrimination for women who are subjected to multiple discrimination
- integrating a gender perspective in health care policies
- eliminating gender stereotypes in health and health services
- health issues for special population groups (e.g. women with disabilities).
B. An "Observatory on Gender Equality" has been set up in the General Secretariat for Gender Equality. The Flagship Project is entitled "Service organization for the integration, monitoring and evaluation of Gender Equality Policies in all aspects of Public Sector's Actions" (Observatory); its aim is to support Public Administration and Local Authorities to design, implement and evaluate policies concerning gender equality through detailed data on equality issues (statistics and surveys) deriving from the development and function of relevant tools.
Its structure is based on the 12 thematic areas of the Beijing Platform for Action and "Women and Health" is one of them; in addition, the issue of the rights of persons with disabilities is incorporated in all thematic areas.
The European Commission has selected the specific Project as an example of good practice for the 2015 Annual Report on Equality between Women and Men in Europe (March 2016 – page 40, relevant link: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/annual_reports/2016_annual_report_2015_web_en.pdf ).
2. Combating sexual and gender-based violence
A. The infrastructure of the SGBV pillar of the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020 can be taken advantage by women with disabilities. It refers to all forms of gender-based violence (e.g. domestic violence, rape, sexual harassment, trafficking in women) and its main characteristics are the following:
- fourteen Counseling Centers operated by the General Secretariat for Gender Equality at the capitals of the corresponding Regions of the country
- twenty five Counseling Centers operated by the twenty five largest Municipalities nationwide
- nineteen shelters for Abused Women operated by 19 large Municipalities, which started their operation within the period 2013-2014; they provide bilingual (Greek and English) services of shelter, psychological and social support to women victims of violence and their children
- two Shelters for Abused Women operated by the Ministry of Labor, Social Security & Social Solidarity / National Centre for Social Solidarity in the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki
- the bilingual (Greek and English) SOS helpline 15900 accompanied by the email-address sos15900@isotita.gr, which has been in operation since March 2011; it provides services of advice, support and counseling to women victims of gender based violence, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year (a low-cost, nationwide, confidential helpline).
3. Access to the services of the General Secretariat for Gender Equality for women and men with disabilities
Both the infrastructure of the SGBV pillar of the National Action Plan on Gender Equality 2016-2020 and the GSGE Library for Equality Issues & Gender are accessible to persons with mobility limitations. In addition, the GSGE Library for Equality Issues & Gender is friendly to persons with visual limitations.