WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES: BODY, BIOPOWER, AND RESISTANCE

Abstract

This article analyzes the construction of the identity of women with disabilities based on the contributions of feminist critical theory and biopolitics. Disability is understood not only as a biological condition, but as a socially constructed situation shaped by discourses, practices, and power relations that produce inequalities and exclusions. From this perspective, women with disabilities occupy a position marked both by gender relations and by the stigmas associated with disability. The discussion is grounded in feminist critiques of the historical production of women as the “Other,” a condition that becomes even more pronounced when disability is incorporated into social representations of the female body. These women are often associated with dependency, fragility, and incapacity, which contributes to processes of invisibilization and denial of their independence and autonomy, restricting their self-management and self-advocacy. In dialogue with biopolitics, the study problematizes the role of medical and institutional discourses in the normalization of bodies considered deviant from hegemonic standards of femininity, functionality, and reproductivity. Through a literature review, the article examines how practices of classification, control, and intervention on the bodies of women with disabilities produce effects on their subjectivity, limiting the recognition of their social participation. It is observed that such mechanisms reinforce power relations that naturalize exclusion and restrict the construction of their identity. The conclusion is that understanding disability as a social and cultural phenomenon allows questioning historically produced processes of normalization and subordination. It argues for the need to recognize women with disabilities as rights-bearing subjects and protagonists of their own narratives, contributing to the construction of more inclusive and emancipatory social practices.