Author: Tamar Gabodze, organization Partnership for Human Rights
Protection from violence and access to justice are fundamental rights for persons with disabilities. These rights are prerequisites for the realization of other rights: security, a dignified life, and the ability to make independent choices. However, in Georgia, escaping violence remains a difficult and often nearly impossible task for women with disabilities. This is caused not only by individual circumstances, but also by entrenched social stereotypes and ineffective state responses.
Silence that Protects Violence
The 2025 study “Barriers to Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities” clearly shows that one of the most significant barriers to escaping violence for women with disabilities is the lack of a support network. Women with disabilities who were interviewed as part of the research often have to live in violent environments for years, because people around them encourage silence or suggest resolving the problem “quietly.”
Respondents note that they did not receive help from family members despite repeated requests. Even contacting law enforcement agencies, the first step toward escaping violence, often depends on whether a woman has a supportive person in their life: a family member, friend, or relative. Without such support, women refrain from initiating legal procedures, realizing that speaking out about violence may further worsen their situation.
Perpetrators also exploit this silence effectively. They know that the family or close circle will not take real steps to protect the woman, which facilitates the continuation of violence.
Self-Preservation
After being rejected by their families, many women with disabilities remain in complete isolation while facing violence and are forced to find ways to survive on their own. One respondent described her experience as follows: “I started having panic attacks; we would call an ambulance. When my husband found out that the ambulance had been called, he wouldn’t fight with me that day. My brain remembered that the panic attack was useful for me, and they became more frequent”. This experience reflects the severe reality in which women with disabilities find themselves when, in the absence of support, they are forced to manage violence on their own.
The research also describes a case in which the family of a woman with an intellectual disability who was a survivor of rape, instead of offering legal support, suggested that she leave her home. The perpetrator lived in the same village, and in order to “resolve the problem simply,” the family moved the woman to a residential facility for persons with disabilities. “I had a mother, a father, an aunt, an uncle, neighbors, I had everyone, but everyone gave up on me,” the respondent says.
Social Norms and Lack of Housing as Additional Barriers for Women with Disabilities
The difficulty of escaping violence is closely linked to the lack of housing. Although Georgian legislation grants women equal inheritance rights, in reality traditional gender norms often outweigh legal guarantees. Family property is usually left to male heirs, while women’s use of their inheritance rights is perceived as “an action against one’s brother.”
Respondents note that when they tried to flee their abuser and return to their parents’ home, they were refused, with the justification being the “future family” of the male child and reputational risks: “When I left my husband, the next day my younger brother came to see me and told me that if I didn’t return to my husband, he would jump from the building’s seventh floor”. This example clearly illustrates how families use emotional pressure to force women back into violent environments.
State Responsibility
The stories described in this blog represent only a small part of the reality that prevents women with disabilities from fully exercising their right to justice. The lack of a support network, absence of housing, social norms, and ineffective responses from state institutions together create a closed circle that is extremely difficult for women with disabilities who are survivors of violence to escape.
It is the state’s obligation to implement preventive measures to protect women, eliminate all barriers that hinder their access to justice, ensure women’s economic empowerment, and take effective steps against harmful and discriminatory stereotypes entrenched in society.
However, despite these obligations, persons with disabilities still are not among the state’s priorities.
About the Research
This research was conducted within the framework of a joint initiative of CRRC-Georgia and UN Women, aimed at strengthening civil society research capacities. The study was carried out by Tamar Gabodze, a representative of the organization Partnership for Human Rights, during July-September 2025. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 women with disabilities living in Tbilisi who have experienced domestic or partner violence.
The views expressed in this blog belong solely to the author and may not reflect the official positions of UN Women or CRRC-Georgia.
