This article explores the intersections of gender and disability in Lebanon, with a particular focus on education and employment. On the basis of a recent study on education and employment in Bekaa, a rural region of Lebanon, as well as practice experience, the authors highlight the main findings and discuss the role of social work in addressing the marginalization of women with disabilities. Throughout the discussion, the authors adopt a feminist critical-disability theoretical perspective that steers clear of conceptions of women with disabilities as passive victims of oppressive social conditions. The article ends with two examples of grassroots activist efforts to address the marginalization of women with disabilities.
Abu-Habib, L. ( 1998). Gender and disability. Women’s experiences in the Middle East. Beirut: National Council for the Affairs of the Disabled.
2.
Balser, D.B. ( 2002). Agency in organizational inequality: Organizational behavior and individual perceptions of discrimination. Work and Occupations , 29, 137-165.
3.
Barnes, C., & Mercer, G. ( 2003). Disability and development: Global perspectives. In C. Barnes & G. Mercer, (Eds.), Disability (pp. 133-149). Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
4.
Barnoff, L., & Moffatt, K. ( 2007). Contradictory tensions in anti-oppression practice within feminist social services. Affilia, 22, 56-70.
5.
Berecki-Gisolf, J., Lucke, J., Hockey, R., & Dobson, A. ( 2008). Transitions into informal caregiving and out of paid employment of women in their 50s. Social Science & Medicine , 67, 122-127.
6.
Braathen, S.H., & Kvam, M.H. ( 2008). ‘‘Can anything good come out of this mouth?’’ Female experiences of disability in Malawi. Disability & Society, 23, 461-474.
7.
Brady, S.M. ( 2001). Sterilization of girls and women with intellectual disabilities: Past and present justifications. Violence Against Women, 7, 432-461.
8.
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. ( 2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77-101.
9.
Bricout, J.C., & Bentley, K.J. ( 2000). Disability status and perception of employability by employers. Social Work Research, 24, 87-95.
10.
Burkhauser, R.V., Daly, M.C., Houtenville, A.J., & Nargis, N. ( 2002). Self-reported work-limitation data: What they can and cannot tell us. Demography, 39, 541-555.
11.
Bush, B. ( 2006). Imperialism and postcolonialism, History: Concepts, theories and practice. Toronto: Pearson Education .
12.
Cameron, C. ( 2007). Whose problem? Disability narratives and available identities . Community Development Journal, 42, 501-511.
13.
Carey, A.C. ( 2003). Beyond the medical model: A reconsideration of ‘‘feeblemindedness,’’ citizenship, and eugenic restrictions. Disability & Society , 18, 411-430.
14.
Carmichael, F., Hulme, C., Sheppard, S., & Connell, G. ( 2008). Work-life imbalance: Informal care and paid employment in the UK. Feminist Economics, 14, 3-35.
15.
Central Administration of Statistics. (1997 ). Population and Housing Data Survey. Beirut : Author.
16.
Chimedza, R. ( 1998). The cultural politics of integrating deaf students in regular schools in Zimbabwe. Disability & Society, 13, 493-502.
17.
Coleridge, P. ( 1993). Lebanon: Rebuilding civic consciousness. In P. Coleridge (Ed.), Disability, liberation, and development (pp. 187-207). Oxford, England: Oxfam GB.
18.
DeLeire, T. ( 2000). The wage and employment effects of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Journal of Human Resources, 34, 693-715.
19.
Fine, M., & Glendinning, C. (2005). Dependence, independence or inter-dependence? Revisiting the concepts of ‘‘care’’ and ‘‘dependency.’’. Ageing & Society, 25, 601-621.
20.
Garland-Thomson, R. ( 2005). Feminist disability studies. Signs, 30, 1557-1587.
21.
Graham-Brown, S. ( 2003). The seen, the unseen, and the imagined: Private and public lives. In R. Lewis & S. Mills (Eds.), Feminist postcolonial theory: A reader (pp. 502-519). NY: Routledge.
22.
Hare, I. ( 2004). Defining social work for the 21st century: The International Federation of Social Workers’ revised definition of social work. International Social Work, 47, 407-424.
23.
Holden, C., & Beresford, P. ( 2002). Globalization and disability. In C. Barnes, M. Oliver & L. Barton (Eds.), Disability studies today (pp. 190-209). Cambridge, England: Polity Press.
24.
Lakkis, S., & Thomas, E. ( 2003). Disability and livelihoods in Lebanon. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www.lphu.com/AN/index.asp?Id_Page=17
25.
Mansour, M.G. ( 2001). Implications of international policies on national legislation: A case study of Law 220 for the rights of the disabled in Lebanon. Unpublished master’s thesis, American University of Beirut.
26.
Meekosha, H., & Dowse, L. ( 2007). Integrating critical disability studies into social work education and practice: An Australian perspective. Practice: Social Work in Action, 19, 169-183.
27.
Mehdid, M. ( 1993). A Western invention of Arab womanhood: The ‘‘Oriental’’ female. In H. Afshar (Ed.), Women in the Middle East: Perceptions, realities and struggles for liberation (pp. 18-58). London: Macmillan.
28.
Mernissi, F. ( 2003). The meaning of spatial boundaries. In R. Lewis & S. Mills (Eds.), Feminist postcolonial theory: A reader (pp. 489-501). NY: Routledge.
29.
Phelps, L.A., & Hanley-Maxwell, C. (1997). School-to-work transitions for youth with disabilities: A review of outcomes and practices. Review of Educational Research, 67, 197-226.
30.
Phillips, M.J. ( 1990). Damaged goods: Oral narratives of the experience of disability inAmerican culture. Social Science and Medicine, 30, 849-857.
31.
Razack, S.H. ( 1988). From pity to respect: The ableist gaze and the politics of rescue. In S. H. Razack (Ed.), Looking white people in the eye: Gender, race, and culture in courtrooms and classrooms (pp. 130-156)University of Toronto Press.
32.
Reynolds Whyte, S., & Ingstad, B. ( 2007). Introduction: Disability connections. In B. Ingstad & S. Reynolds Whyte (Eds.), Disability in local and global worlds (pp. 1-17). Berkley : University of California Press.
33.
Rohrer, J. ( 2005). Toward a full-inclusion feminism: A feminist deployment of disability analysis. Feminist Studies, 31, 34-63.
34.
Said, E. ( 1997). Covering Islam (2nd ed.). NY: Vintage Books.
35.
Samuels, G.M., & Ross-Sheriff, F. (2008). Identity, oppression, and power: Feminisms and intersectionality theory. Affilia , 23, 5-9.
36.
Shukri, S. ( 1999). Social changes and women in the Middle East: State policy, education, economics and development. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
37.
Thorburn, M.J. ( 2008). Status of intellectual disabilities in Jamaica. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 5, 125-128.
38.
Turmusani, M. ( 2003). Disabled people and economic needs in the developing world: A political perspective from Jordan. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.
39.
United Nations Development Program. (2003). Alhadaf al-inmaiah al-alfia: Takreer Lubnan 2003. [Millennium development goals: Lebanon report 2003]. NY: Author.
40.
Wehbi, S. ( 2002). ‘‘Women with nothing to lose’’: Marriageability and women’s perceptions of rape and consent in contemporary Beirut. Women’s Studies International Forum, 25, 287-300.
41.
Wehbi, S. ( 2006). The challenges of inclusive education in Lebanon. Disability & Society, 21, 331-343.
42.
Wehbi, S., & El-Lahib, Y. ( 2007). The employment situation of people with disabilities in Lebanon: Challenges and opportunities. Disability & Society, 22, 371-382.
43.
Wong, D., Pearson, V., Ip, F., & Lo, E. ( 1999). A slippery road to equality: Hong Kong’s experiences of unplanned integrated education. Disability and Society , 14, 771-789.
44.
Yeo, R., & Moore, K. ( 2003). Including disabled people in poverty reduction work: ‘‘Nothing about us, without us.’’ World Development, 31, 571-590.
