Women with disabilities value career and beauty but motherhood feels out of reach - study shows
Photo by Rollz International on Unsplash
Ylenia feels inspired whenever she hears of disabled women who are succeeding in advancing their careers.
Now in her mid-40s, she has a disability brought about by a congenital chronic illness. Looking at the career success of other disabled women fills her with positivity. “They inspire me, they’re thinkers and they have achieved so much academically,” she says.
Ylenia (not her real name) voiced her perceptions in a research project that aimed to shed light on the way disabled women in Malta view themselves and other women like them.
The research showed that women with disabilities care about looking good and believe having a career is important. However, they feel that having both a career and a family remains a challenge for them with few considering motherhood as an option.
In fact, even Ylenia, who has a level of higher education, described disabled women she knew as either being “career-oriented” or “motherly”.
“This dichotomy shows that for some disabled women having both a career and a family is still perceived to be unattainable,” the study said.
Most of the women did not speak about motherhood as an option, possibly because, unlike non-disabled women for whom motherhood is often viewed as the most natural thing to do, disabled women have often been discouraged from having a family of their own, the study said.
How disabled women view other disabled women
Titled ‘Exploring The Representations Of Disabled Women Using The Repertory Grid Technique’ the study was carried out by Amy Camilleri-Zahra, from the University of Malta’s Department of Disability Studies, and Mary-Anne Lauri and Gottfried Catania from the Department of Psychology.
Having a successful career is deemed equally important both for the participants and the other disabled women who they knew.
The research was recently published in the newly released edited volume Psychology Applications and Developments X. It formed part of a bigger research project that aimed to find out how disabled women are viewed by Maltese society.
It explored the representations of disabled women held by disabled women themselves. Researchers interviewed 14 disabled women, aged between 28 and 63 years old. Constructs, in the form of adjectives, were extracted and grouped into three main themes: the power of first impressions, a part of one’s identity, and the dichotomy of career and family.
The research showed that body image, physical appearance and fashion were important to the disabled women taking part in the study.
The participants used terms like “physically beautiful”, “looks healthy”, “well dressed”, “frumpy”, “fashionable” and “unkept” as well as “fat” and “thin” amongst others, to describe other disabled women they knew.
“Body image, physical appearance and fashion were important to the disabled women taking part in the study… These constructs are in stark contrast to the general idea amongst non-disabled people that disabled women are not interested in the way they look and the image their body portrays.”
They spoke about the women who made an effort to look after themselves as not conforming to the usual “disabled” image of looking sick and scruffy. “These constructs are in stark contrast to the general idea amongst non-disabled people that disabled women are not interested in the way they look and the image their body portrays,” the study said.
A second important finding was that although the impairment may be congenital, acquired, visible or invisible, it is part of one’s identity and disabled women are not afraid to take their impairment in their stride and strive for greater things.
Respect for education and career
When asked about education and career they spoke highly of women who pursued their career describing them as “academically accomplished”, “academically driven”, “ambitious” and “intelligent”.
One woman interviewed referred to these women as the ones who, “...inspire me, they’re thinkers and they have achieved so much academically”. Participants recognised the importance of seeking and getting the right support.
“These constructs show that having a successful career is deemed equally important both for the participants and the other disabled women who they knew. The strong use of constructs related to education and employment is a very positive finding since education for disabled women has not always been encouraged. For a long-time disabled women were perceived as low-achievers without any strong prospects for a successful career,” the study said.
When speaking about the study Amy, one of the researchers, said that representations held in the minds of others can have a strong influence on the lives of disabled women.
“Representations can determine whether disabled women will have a positive encounter at a job interview or when accessing health services. The impact of these representations do not only influence policy and practices but also influence the way in which ordinary people respond to disabled women going about their day to day lives.
“The identification of representations of disabled women will enable society to understand society’s attitudes towards them. In turn, recognising attitudes towards disabled women will help in proposing suggestions to policy-makers which may eventually improve the wellbeing of disabled women in the Maltese islands,” she said.
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