Chapter 12: Women with Disabilities

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More women with disabilities

The full participation of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society has been a major policy objective of governments across Canada in recent years. In 2001, almost 2 million women—13% of the total female population—had disabilities.¹ (Table 12.1)

Table 12.1 Population with disabilities, by age, 2001

In fact, females make up the majority of the Canadian population with disabilities. In 2001, 54% of those who had a disability were women, whereas females accounted for only 51% of the total population. That year, 13.3% of Canadian females had a disability, compared with 11.5% of the male population.

Disabilities increase with age

The likelihood of women having disabilities increases with age. In 2001, 42% of all women aged 65 and over had a disability. This was almost twice the figure among women aged 55 to 64, 22% of whom had a disability, and well above figures for women in younger age groups. That year, for example, just 12% of women between the ages of 35 and 54, 5% of those aged 15 to 34, and just 3% of those under the age of 15 were considered to have a disability.

The prevalence of disabilities also increases among women in older age groups in the senior population. Indeed, in 2001, 72% of all women 85 years and over had disabilities, while the figures were 50% among women aged 75 to 84 and 32% for women aged 65 to 74.

Disabilities also increase with age among senior men. There are, however, no statistical differences in the incidence of disabilities among women and men in different age ranges in the senior population. Among those aged 85 and over in 2001, for example, 72% of women and 69% of males had a disability. Because women make up the majority of Canadians seniors, though, there are far more senior women than men with disabilities. Indeed, that year, there were 136,000 women aged 85 and over with disabilities, twice the actual number of men in this age with disabilities.

Severity of disability

The largest proportion of women with disabilities have a mild disability.² In 2001, 32% of women aged 15 and over with disabilities had a mild disability, while 25% had a moderate disability, 28% had a severe disability, and 14% had a very severe disability. That year, just over 800,000 women, nearly 7% of all women aged 15 and over, had disabilities which were considered severe or very severe. (Table 12.2)

Table 12.2 Population aged 15 and over with disabilities, by age and severity of disability, 2001

Not surprisingly, senior women are more likely than their younger counterparts to have a severe disability. In 2001, 6% of all women aged 65 and over had a very severe disability, while 12% had what was reported as a severe disability. Again, these figures were about twice those for women aged 55 to 64 and well above those for females in younger age groups.

Among seniors, women are also somewhat more likely than men to have a severe disability. In 2001, 12% of women aged 65 and over had a severe disability, versus 9% of men in this age range. In contrast, there was no statistical difference in the shares of senior women and men with very severe disabilities. There were also few differences in the incidence of disability among females and males in younger age groups.

Family status of wom-en with disabilities

As with the overall population, most women with disabilities live with their family.³ In 2001, 64% of women aged 15 and over with a disability were either a spouse in a husband-wife or common-law family, a lone parent, or a daughter living at home with her parents. That year, 47% of women with a disability were living with their husband or common-law partner, 12% were lone parents, while 5% were living at home with their parents. (Table 12.3)

Table 12.3 Family status of people aged 15 and over with disabilities, by age, 2001

At the same time, though, many women with disabilities live outside a family setting. In 2001, 684,000 women aged 15 and over with disabilities—36% of the total— either lived alone, with another relative, or with an unrelated person. In fact, women with disabilities are much more likely than their male counterparts to live outside their family. That year, just 24% of men with disabilities lived alone, with another relative, or with an unrelated person.

Senior women with disabilities are particularly likely not to live with family members. In 2001, 53% of women aged 65 and over with disabilities lived alone, with other relatives, or with an unrelated person. This compared with just 24% of senior men with disabilities and 22% of women with disabilities under age 65.

In contrast, women aged 65 and over with disabilities are only about half as likely as senior men with disabilities to be living with their spouse. In 2001, 35% of these women, versus 70% of senior men women, were married.

There is less variation in the family situation of women and men in the 15 to 64 age group with disabilities. In fact, women with disabilities in this age range were just as likely as men with disabilities either to live with a spouse or common-law partner or to not live with their family.

Women aged 15 to 64 with disabilities, however, are considerably more likely than their male counterparts to be lone parents. In 2001, 13% of these women were lone parents, compared with just 3% of their male counterparts.

Level of education

Women with disabilities generally have a lower level of education than women with no disabilities. Of the population aged 15 and over, 10% of women with disabilities had a university degree in 2001, compared with 19% of women without disabilities. At the same time, close to half (48%) of women with disabilities in this age range had not completed high school, whereas the figure among their counterparts without disabilities was only 28%. (Table 12.4)

Table 12.4 Educational attainment of people aged 15 and over with and without disabilities, 2001

Women with disabilities, though, are about as well educated as their male counterparts. In 2001, 10% of both women and men with disabilities aged 15 and over had a university degree. At the same time, women with disabilities in this age range were more likely to have a community college diploma than their male counterparts, while they were less likely to have a diploma from a trade school. Women aged 15 and over with disabilities were also about as likely as men with disabilities not have a high school diploma.

As with the overall population, education levels of women with disabilities decline with age. At all ages, though, the educational attainment of women with disabilities is well below that of their counterparts without disabilities. Among those aged 55 to 64, for example, women with a disability were only half as likely as those with no disability to have a university degree in 2001: 8% versus 16%. (Table 12.5)

Table 12.5 Educational attainment of people with and without disabilities, by age, 2001

There is a somewhat smaller gap in the education levels of women aged 15 to 34 with and without disabilities. Still, in 2001, 13% of women in this age range with disabilities had a university degree, compared with 20% women without disabilities. Women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities were also somewhat more likely than their counterparts without disabilities, 30% versus 26%, not to have completed high school.

Women with disabilities between the ages of 15 and 34, though, tend to be better educated than men in this age range with disabilities. In 2001, 13% of women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities had a university degree, close to twice the figure of 7% among men in this age range with disabilities. At the same time, 30% of females in this age category with disabilities had not finished high school, compared with 40% of their male counterparts. This contrasts with the situation for people with disabilities aged 55 and over, among whom men tend to be better educated than women.

Fewer women with disabilities employed

Women with disabilities are generally like less likely to be employed than women without disabilities. In 2001, just 40% of women aged 15 to 64 with disabilities were part of the Canadian work force, compared with 69% of women in this age range without disabilities. Women without disabilities were also somewhat less likely than their male counterparts, 40% versus 47%, to be employed that year. (Table 12.6)

Table 12.6 Percentage of people aged 15 to 64 with and without disabilities employed, 2001

The gap between the employment levels of women both with and without disabilities tends to rise with age, although women with disabilities are considerably less likely than their counterparts without disabilities to be employed in all age groups. Indeed, there is a particularly large difference among those aged 55 to 64. In 2001, just 22% of women in this age range with disabilities were part of the paid work force. This was less than the half the figure for their counterparts without disabilities, 46% of whom were employed that year.

Women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities are also less likely than women in this age range without disabilities to be employed. In 2001, 52% of women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities were part of the paid work force, compared with 66% of their counterparts without disabilities. Women aged 15 to 34 with disabilities, though, were about as likely to be employed as men in this age range with disabilities, whereas women in age groups over the age of 35 with disabilities were less likely than men in these age ranges to be employed.

Not surprisingly, the likelihood of women with disabilities being employed declines among those with more serious disabilities. Indeed, in 2001, just 15% of women aged 15 to 64 with a very severe disability, and 29% of those with a severe disability, were part of the paid work force, compared with 47% of those with moderate disabilities and 57% of those with a mild disability. (Table 12.7)

Table 12.7 Percentage of people aged 15 to 64 with disabilities employed, by severity of disability, 2001

This pattern also holds for men with disabilities, although women with disabilities are generally less likely than their male counterparts to be employed whatever the level of disability. The exception to this pattern are those with very severe disabilities. In 2001, 15% of women aged 15 to 64 with very severe disabilities were employed, compared with only 12% of men in this age range with disabilities. In contrast, employment rates for women with both mild and moderate disabilities were around 10 percentage points below those of their respective male counterparts, while there were no statistical differences in the employment rates of women and men with severe disabilities.

Employment increases with education

As with the overall population, employment levels among women with disabilities rise the higher the level of educational attainment. In 2001, 66% of female university graduates aged 15 to 64 with a disability were employed, compared with 54% of those with a college diploma, 42% of those with a high school diploma and only 22% of those who had not completed high school. (Table 12.8)

Table 12.8 Percentage of people aged 15 to 64 with and without disabilities employed, by educational attainment, 2001

Whatever their level of education women with disabilities are less likely than women without a disability to be employed. The gap between the employment rates of women with and without disabilities, though, declines the higher the level of educational attainment. In 2001, women aged 15 to 64 with disabilities who had not completed high school were less than half as likely as their counterparts without disabilities to be employed. In contrast, the share of women with disabilities with a university degree with a job was only 14 percentage points below that of female university graduates without disabilities: 66% versus 80%.

At the same time, women with disabilities with either a university degree or community college diploma were about as likely as their male counterparts to be employed. Among university graduates with a disability, 66% of women and 64% of men were employed in 2001. Similarly, 54% of women with disabilities with a community college diploma, versus 58% of their male counterparts, were part of the paid workforce that year. On the other hand, women with disabilities with lower levels of education were somewhat less likely than their male counterparts to be employed that year.

Most in traditional female jobs

Like their counterparts without disabilities, a substantial share of female labour force participants work in areas which have historically been dominated by women. Indeed, in 2001, almost half of all female labour force participants with disabilities worked in either sales or service jobs or in administrative positions. That year, 25% of these women worked in sales or service jobs, while another 24% were employed in administrative positions. (Table 12.9)

Table 12.9 Occupational distribution of workers with and without disabilities, 2001

The overall share of women with disabilities working in either sales or service jobs or administrative positions, though, is somewhat smaller than that for their non-disabled counterparts. In 2001, 49% of female labour force participants with disabilities worked in one of these two areas, compared with 55% of women without disabilities.

As with the non-disabled population, women with disabilities are much more likely than their male counterparts to be employed in sales and service jobs and administrative positions. In 2001, 49% of female labour force participants with disabilities worked in these types of jobs, versus just 28% of men with disabilities.

At the same time, relatively few women with disabilities are employed in management positions. In 2001, just 4% of all female labour force participants with disabilities were employed as managers, compared with 7% of men with disabilities and 8% of women without disabilities.

On the other hand, there are few differences in the shares of employed women with disabilities working in other professional occupations compared with women without disabilities. In 2001, for example, just 3% all female labour force participants, whether they had disabilities or not, were employed in occupations in the natural and applied sciences. Indeed, both these groups of women were much less likely to be employed in these highly technical fields than their respective male counterparts.

Unemployment in women with disabilities

The unemployment rate among women with disabilities is relatively high. In 2001, 10% of women in the labour force between 15 and 64 years of age with disabilities were unemployed, double the figure for other women, 5% of whom were unemployed that year. (Table 12.10)

Table 12.10 Unemployment rates of people aged 15 to 64 with and without disabilities, 2001

As with the overall female population, unemployment rates are highest among younger labour force participants with disabilities. In 2001, 13% of women with disabilities under the age of 35 were unemployed, compared with just 7% of those aged 55 to 64. As well, the unemployment rate for women with disabilities was substantially above that for their counterparts without disabilities in all age ranges.

At the same time, women under the age of 35 with disabilities have a much lower unemployment rate than men in this age range with disabilities. In 2001, 13% of women in this age range with disabilities were unemployed, compared with 18% of their male counterparts. In contrast, there were few differences in the unemployment rates of women and men with disabilities in older age ranges.

Income of women with disabilities

Women with disabilities generally have relatively low incomes. In 2000, women with disabilities aged 15 and over had an average income from all sources of $17,200. This was almost $5,000 less per person than women without disabilities, who had an average income of $22,000 that year. (Table 12.11)

Table 12.11 Average income of people aged 15 and over with and without disabilities, 2000

The incomes of women with disabilities are also substantially lower than those of their male counterparts. In 2000, women aged 15 and over with disabilities had an average income of $17,200, versus $26,900 for men in this age range with disabilities. The gap between the incomes of women and men with disabilities, though, is roughly similar to that among people without disabilities. That year, for example, the average earnings of women aged 15 and over with disabilities were 64% those of their male counterparts, while the figure for those without disabilities was 61%.

The incomes of senior women with disabilities are much closer to those of their non-disabled counterparts than they are for younger age groups. In 2000, women with disabilities aged 65 and over had an average income from all sources of $18,400, only about a $1,000 less per person than the figure for non-disabled senior women who had average incomes of $19,400.

The incomes of senior women with disabilities, though, are substantially less than those of senior men with disabilities. In 2000, women aged 65 and over with disabilities had an average income of $18,400, over $8,000 less than the figure for senior men with disabilities who had an average income of $26,800. Again, though, the gap between the incomes of senior women and men with disabilities was less than that for their non-disabled counterparts. That year, the incomes of women with disabilities aged 65 and over were 69% those of senior men with disabilities, whereas for non-disabled seniors the figure was just 60%.

The gap between the incomes of younger women with and without disabilities is also relatively small. Among those aged 15 to 34, for example, women with disabilities had an average income of $13,800 in 2000, compared with $15,700 for women without disabilities. In contrast, the incomes of women aged 35 to 54 with disabilities were almost $10,000 less, on average, than their counterparts without disabilities, while there was a difference of almost $8,000 per person for women with and without disabilities aged 55 to 64.

There was also a major difference in the incomes of men and women with disabilities aged 55 to 64. In 2000, women in this age range with disabilities had an average income of just $13,800, less than half the figure for their male counterparts, who had an average income of over $29,000. There was a similar difference in the average incomes of women and men with disabilities aged 35 to 54, whereas there was no statistical difference in the average incomes of women and men with disabilities under the age of 35.

The incomes of working age women with disabilities also vary by the level of severity of the disability. In 2000, women with very severe disabilities aged 15 to 64 had an average income from all sources of just over $12,000, compared with $19,400 per person for those with mild disabilities. Whatever the severity of the disability, though, the incomes of women with disabilities in this age range were substantially less than that of their male counterparts. (Table 12.12)

Table 12.12 Average income of employed people aged 15 and over with disabilities, by severity of disability, 2000

In contrast, there is no statistical difference in the incomes of senior women with different levels of disabilities. In fact, the income of women aged 65 and over with disabilities was around $18,000 in 2000 at all levels of disability. Whatever the level of severity, though, the incomes of senior women with disabilities were well below those of their male counterparts.

More dependent on transfers

Women with disabilities generally receive a relatively large share of their income from government transfer programs. In 2000, 60% of all income received by women aged 15 and over with disabilities came from these programs, while 31% came from earned sources, including private pensions, and 10% came from other sources. In fact, the share of the income of women with disabilities accounted for by transfers was over twice that for all women without disabilities; that year, 26% of the income of women without disabilities came in the form of transfer payment payments. (Table 12.13)

Table 12.13 Distribution of sources of income of persons with and without disabilities, by age, 2000

Transfer payments also make up a greater share of the income of women with disabilities compared with that of their male counterparts. In 2000, transfer payments represented 60% of the income of women aged 15 and over with disabilities, versus 48% of that of men in this age range with disabilities.

Among women with disabilities, seniors are the most dependent on transfers. Indeed, in 2000, 77% of the total income of women aged 65 and over came in the form of transfer payments. However, this was actually only a few percentage points higher than the figure for senior women without disabilities, 72% of whose income that year came in the form of transfer payments. At the same time, 60% of the income of senior men with disabilities was from government transfer programs.

In contrast to their senior counterparts, the largest share of the incomes of women with disabilities under the age of 65 comes from earned sources. In 2000, 47% of the income of women with disabilities between the ages of 15 and 64 was earned, while 45% came from transfer payments and 9% came from other sources.

Working age women with disabilities, though, still are much more dependent on transfers than their counterparts without disabilities. In 2000, 45% of the income of women aged 15 to 64 with disabilities came from government transfers, compared with just 20% that of women in this age range without disabilities. On the other hand, the share of the income of women between the ages of 15 to 64 with disabilities accounted for by transfers was only slightly larger than that for men in this age range with disabilities: 45% versus 40%.

Many with low incomes

A relatively large proportion of females with disabilities are considered to have low incomes. In 2000, 26% of all women with disabilities aged 15 and over had incomes below official low income cut-offs, compared with 20% of men with disabilities and 16% of non-disabled women. (Table 12.14)

Table 12.14 Percentage of people with and without disabilities with low income, 2000

Among women with disabilities, those under the age of 55 are somewhat more likely than their older counterparts to have low incomes. In 2000, 30% of women with disabilities aged 15 to 34, and 29% of those aged 35 to 54, were classified as having low incomes, whereas the figure was 24% for both women with disabilities aged 55 to 64 and seniors.

The share of senior women with disabilities with low incomes, though, was relatively high compared to their male counterparts. In 2000, 24% of women with disabilities aged 65 and over lived in a low-income situation, more than twice the figure for senior men with disabilities, 11% of whom had low incomes. In contrast, there were much smaller differences in the incidence of low income among women and men with disabilities under the age of 65. Indeed, the low-income rate for women with disabilities aged 55 to 64 was about the same as that for men with disabilities in this age range.

Senior women with disabilities are also more likely than non-disabled women aged 65 and over to live in a low-income setting. In 2000, 24% of women aged 65 and over with disabilities were classified as having low incomes, compared with 19% of non- disabled senior women. There are, however, even larger gaps between the low-income rates of women with and without disabilities under the age of 65. That year, for example, 29% of women aged 35 to 54 with disabilities had low incomes, compared with just 12% of their counterparts without disabilities.

Local travel

One of the most pressing issues for people with disabilities is mobility. In fact, most women with disabilities are able to travel locally by car without experiencing difficulty due to their health condition. Still, close to one in five women with disabilities has at least some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition. In 2001, 17% of women aged 15 and over with disabilities experienced some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition when they did travel, while another 2% were prevented from travelling locally because of their disability. (Table 12.15)

Table 12.15 Indicators of local transportation by car of people with disabilities aged 15 and over, by age, 2001

Women with disabilities are also somewhat more likely than their male counterparts to experience some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition. In 2001, 17% of females aged 15 and over with a disability experienced some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition, while the figure for men with disabilities was 15%.

Among women with disabilities, those aged 35 to 54 are the most likely to experience some difficulty travelling locally by car due of their health condition. In 2001, 25% of women in this age range with disabilities experienced some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition, whereas the figure was under 20% in other age groups, including senior women. That year, only 13% of women aged 65 and over with disabilities reported such difficulties.

Senior women with disabilities, though, are more likely than their male counterparts to experience difficulty travelling locally because of their health condition. In 2001, 13% of women aged 65 and over with disabilities experienced some difficulty travelling locally because of their condition, compared with 9% of senior men with disabilities.

At the same time, relatively few women with disabilities experience difficulty using other methods of local transportation, such as specialized bus services and public transportation, including buses, subways and taxis, because of their health condition. In 2001, 5% of females with disabilities aged 15 and over were prevented from travelling locally on specialized transportation services, while another 6% experienced some difficulty using these services. (Table 12.16)

Table 12.16 Local transportation indicators of people aged 15 and over with disabilities, by age, 2001

It should be noted, however, that people with disabilities generally travel much more often by car than by these other methods of transportation. In fact, in 2001, 62% of women aged 15 and over with disabilities did not use specialized or public transportation services for reasons other than the fact that were prevented from doing so because of their disability.

While fewer people with disabilities travel locally on specialized or public transportation services than travel by car, they are more likely to be prevented from travelling on specialized or public transportation services because of their health condition. Indeed, close to 5% of women aged 15 and over with disabilities were prevented from using these services because of their condition, whereas only 2% were prevented from travelling by car by their disabilities.

As well, women with disabilities are somewhat more likely than their male counterparts to experience difficulty travelling locally on specialized or public transportation services because of their health condition. In 2001, 11% of women with disabilities aged 15 and over, versus 8% of men, were either unable to use specialized or public transportation services to travel locally, or experienced at least some difficulty using these services, because of their condition.

Patric Fournier-Savard is an analyst with Statistics Canada's Participation and Activity Limitation Survey.

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Notes

1. The data in this chapter are from the Participation and Activity Limitation Survey conducted by Statistics Canada in 2001. For more information on the concepts and definitions of this survey, consult the publication Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS) 2001: User's Guide to the Public Use Microdata File, Catalogue no. 82M0023GPE. The 2001 Participation and Activity Limitation Survey (PALS), the main source of data for this chapter, follows up on the 1986 and 1991 Health and Activity Limitation Surveys (HALS). The data from the HALS and the PALS, however, cannot be compared because of significant differences in sampling methods, the operational definition of target population, and the content of the questionnaires. In part, because of these differences, there was a decline in the number of women identified as having disabilities from 2.2 million in the 1991 HALS survey to 2.0 million in the 2001 PALS survey.
2. Statistics Canada has developed a general severity indicator using all the questions on the different types of handicaps in the 2001 PALS questionnaire. Points were awarded on each question based on severity. Those suffering from a TOTAL handicap in all areas received the maximum number of points. Another two questions were asked about the intensity and frequency of each type of handicap. There were also questions on intensity in a number of contexts, and the average score was used to measure this intensity. The severity of each type of handicap was determined by multiplying the frequency by the intensity. For some types of handicaps, several questions were asked to determine the limitation measured. There were, for example, three questions on hearing difficulties in the questionnaire for adults. Since the number of questions varies based on the handicaps, the indexes were standardized for each type. As a result, any overrepresentation of handicaps for which many functional limitations were measured was avoided.
3. In this context, "family" means "census family".