A/HRC/41/33 institutionalization.14 That is also often the case with girls who demonstrate different sexual or gender expressions. 24. Stereotyped notions about women’s roles within the family also underlie a number of cultural practices that lead to the deprivation of liberty. They include removing girls from school and confining them to the home to perform domestic labour 15 and subjecting them to child, early and forced marriages, where they are often confined to the marital home. The abduction of girls may even be condoned by communities when followed by betrothal or marriage. In some cases, such practices also have the force of law, as in States that have not outlawed child marriage or where those who are accused of kidnapping or sexually assaulting a woman or girl may be exonerated if they take their victim as wife. 25. Stereotypes about a woman’s “proper” role dictate not only how she should (not) behave within the home but also in public, and defying those standards in public may put women at risk of deprivation of liberty. Women who seek to participate in political, economic, social or cultural leadership in their communities or nations may be acting in defiance of stereotypes obliging women to stay quiet and invisible and defer to male governance. They may thus be stigmatized, or even criminalized or confined, to prevent them from speaking out or taking action (see A/73/301). For example, violence or confinement may be used to stifle and punish women politicians, or those who have an active voice in public, for transgressing traditional gender norms. Women human rights defenders, perceived as challenging traditional notions of family and gender roles in society, (A/HRC/40/60, para. 28), are increasingly at risk of facing criminalization and detention as a result of their legitimate public activism (see A/HRC/16/44 and Corr.1). In a number of States, women who work specifically to combat gender stereotypes and advance women’s rights are most likely to be targets for criminal persecution and imprisonment. Certain laws, including “complicity” laws, and “public order” laws 16 or even anti-terrorism laws, may be particularly instrumentalized to target women human rights defenders. In some countries, forms of public expression dominated by women, such as religious observances (for example, how they are dressed) related to “disfavoured” or minority faiths, are criminalized or are grounds for restricting access to essential services. 26. Discrimination and stereotyping may also lead to the denial of the asylum claims of migrant women and thus increase their risk of migration-related detention or incarceration for immigration-related offences. For example, certain legal systems require that asylum claims be submitted through a male head of household rather than allowing women to claim asylum as individuals, while immigration judges may apply stricter standards to women owing to gender bias.17 Gender stereotypes in immigration administration also manifest in legal frameworks that exclude consideration of women’s experiences of violence, in particular domestic violence, for granting asylum. 27. The heightened policing of certain populations, owing to racial and ethnic biases intersecting with gender, poses risks for some women. Women from racial and ethnic minorities and indigenous women face specific and deeply damaging stereotypes and are disproportionately targeted for control. They may be scapegoated as lazy, criminal and deviant in order to reinforce the political and social power of the dominant group and justify the perpetuation of structures of exploitation, 18 leading to perceptions of them as a “social problem” or a dangerous threat, to be met with punishment rather than compassion or justice. Those stereotypes may lead to the kind of bias that allows, for example, women 14 15 16 17 18 See, for example, Human Rights Watch, “Treated Worse than Animals”: Abuses against Women and Girls with Psychosocial or Intellectual Disabilities in Institutions in India, (2014). See Save the Children and King Hussein Foundation, Information and Research Center, “Homebound girls in Jordan” (2013). See Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa and the Redress Trust, “Criminalisation of women in Sudan: a need for fundamental reform” (2017). See Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, “From private violence to mass incarceration: thinking intersectionally about women, race and social control,” UCLA Law Review, vol. 59, No. 6 (2012). See George Lipsitz, “‘In an avalanche every snowflake pleads not guilty’: the collateral consequences of mass incarceration and impediments to women’s fair housing rights,” UCLA Law Review, vol. 59, No. 6 (2012). 7