Does gender and marital status matter for participation in the labour market for those with assistance allowance?

People with severe disabilities usually have less capacity to achieve a long-lasting disposable income as their participation in the labor market is often limited. Various laws have been implemented to strengthen the individual autonomy in order to facilitate equality and participation in the society. However, people with disabilities are expected to adhere to a traditional role as a deviant and not fully included in societal normality of adults. The aim of the study was to analyze whether there are differences in marital status among people with severe disabilities, receiving personal assistance to work. The study consists of a quantitative cross-sectional analysis based on data from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency as well as data from a questionnaire survey of a sample of people with severe disabilities who were entitled to personal assistance (total of 15,515) conducted in 2010. The number of responses (10,200) corresponds to a response rate of 67 %. The results showed that among those being active in the labor market men were overrepresented compared to women disregard their marital status. The wish to work, however, was generally stronger among women who did not receive assistance allowance for participation in the labor market. The study showed that the image of disability may be intensified by gender - for women it seemed to be the intensified passivity and helplessness. Although men often experience constraints on their sexual access and wider social participation, women with disabilities seemed to be questioned not only through their ability to reproduce, but also to produce, thus providing less assistance benefits for women's active participation in the labor market.
Forte 2012-0921