21/06/2025
Join our last seminar before the summer break! ☀
The seminar will take place on 🗓 June 27 (Friday, as always ;)) from ⏰ 3 to 5 pm.
We will discuss 👉 the rights of women with disabilities, 👉 reproductive autonomy, 👉 social control, and 👉 disability in the context of reproductive rights.
✅ Register for the seminar here 🔗 https://forms.office.com/e/ChjpMTEM8X
The seminar will be divided into two parts:
🔵 PART ONE: PRESENTATION
Reproductive stratification and ableism. Women with disabilities navigating reproductive autonomy and social control in Poland
🔎 Building on Colen’s notion of stratified reproduction - a concept that sheds light on the inequalities related to the reproductive realm - the seminar will focus on how ableism is shaping and reinforcing hierarchies. We will discuss the results of qualitative sociological research conducted with 50 women with disabilities in 2018-19 in Poland, and reflect on changes since then. The study aimed at analyzing the reproductive experiences of women with disabilities, in relation to the social context shaping parenthood norms. We will explore complex practices of negotiating reproductive autonomy and subversion of ableist norms by women with disabilities, especially around the question of who can be a parent and who decides upon that. We will tackle institutionalized ableism, tensions around accessibility and parental agency, and the ambivalence related to care work versus parenting expectations. The seminar will be based on the book Reprodukcja a reżimy sprawności. O macierzyństwie, bezdzietności i niezależnym życiu kobiet z niepełnosprawnościami w Polsce (2022) [Reproduction and ableist regimes. On motherhood, childlessness, and independent living of women with disabilities in Poland]
🗣 Presenter: dr Agnieszka Król, sociologist, Jagiellonian University, Poland. Her academic interests revolve around disability studies, social inequalities, and sociology of gender and sexuality. She has engaged with disability rights, feminist and LGBT+ local and international organizing. She is currently working with Women Enabled International.
🟡 PART TWO: DISCUSSION on reproductive rights and disability – cross regional perspectives
🔎 The presentation will be followed up by discussion with disability rights activists on contemporary and recurring challenges in addressing rights of women with disabilities when it comes to reproduction. We will reflect on the state of reproductive rights of persons with disabilities beyond Central and Eastern Europe - with focus on Indonesia, Kenya and India, and will address what kinds of solidarities beyond regions we need currently.
🗣 Contributors:
🔸 Dwi Ariyani - Perempuan Bumi, Indonesia
🔸 Phylis Mbeke Ndolo – Women Spaces Africa, Kenya
🔸 Chehak Gidwani – RADIATE, India
🔸 dr Magda Szarota – Lancaster University, UK and Poland
