Introduction

“Disability Rights, Gender Justice and Patriarchy” at the Feminist Leadership, Movement Building and Rights Institute 2022 – South Asia by CREA

“Disability Rights, Gender Justice and Patriarchy” at the Feminist Leadership, Movement Building and Rights Institute 2022 – South Asia by CREA

Nidhi is standing and speaking in a room full of women and queer folks. The participants are sitting behind long tables and have their CREA tote bags with them as well as water jugs and glasses in front of them. Nidhi has one of her hands on her hip while she is speaking and one of her hands is on the table behind her.

Nidhi is sitting beside a small table with her laptop on it as well as a projector, some wires and other paraphernalia. The participants are sitting on the long tables and a partial view can be seen. A whiteboard with sticky notes can be seen to Nidhi's side.

Founder and Executive Director Nidhi Goyal was invited as a resource person to CREA’s Feminist Leadership, Movement Building and Rights Institute – South Asia, which took place on 5 December 2022 in Kathmandu, Nepal.

CREA’s Feminist Leadership, Movement Building, and Rights Institute – South Asia is a residential program, designed to strengthen feminist solidarity, leadership, advocacy, and strategies for building collective power for social transformation. The Institute engages feminists from across the region to build a substantive understanding of our present with all its challenges and possibilities.

Nidhi’s session “Disability Rights, Gender Justice and Patriarchy” aimed at building perspective on disability, and going forward to nuance gender intersections on disability, while highlighting the various power structures in place that affect such intersections — 30 activists from 5 countries were present in the session.

There was a focus on the disability movements and women with disabilities within the movements — their gains and challenges — as well as women with disabilities and the feminist movements. The intersection of gender and sexual minorities as well as disability rights movements was also touched upon in the session.