A/CONF.171/13 English Page 26 Objectives 4.3. The objectives are: (a) To achieve equality and equity based on harmonious partnership between men and women and enable women to realize their full potential; (b) To ensure the enhancement of women’s contributions to sustainable development through their full involvement in policy- and decision-making processes at all stages and participation in all aspects of production, employment, income-generating activities, education, health, science and technology, sports, culture and population-related activities and other areas, as active decision makers, participants and beneficiaries; (c) To ensure that all women, as well as men, are provided with the education necessary for them to meet their basic human needs and to exercise their human rights. Actions 4.4. Countries should act to empower women and should take steps to eliminate inequalities between men and women as soon as possible by: (a) Establishing mechanisms for women’s equal participation and equitable representation at all levels of the political process and public life in each community and society and enabling women to articulate their concerns and needs; (b) Promoting the fulfilment of women’s potential through education, skill development and employment, giving paramount importance to the elimination of poverty, illiteracy and ill health among women; (c) Eliminating all practices that discriminate against women; assisting women to establish and realize their rights, including those that relate to reproductive and sexual health; (d) Adopting appropriate measures to improve women’s ability to earn income beyond traditional occupations, achieve economic self-reliance, and ensure women’s equal access to the labour market and social security systems; (e) Eliminating violence against women; (f) Eliminating discriminatory practices by employers against women, such as those based on proof of contraceptive use or pregnancy status; (g) Making it possible, through laws, regulations and other appropriate measures, for women to combine the roles of child-bearing, breast-feeding and child-rearing with participation in the workforce. 4.5. All countries should make greater efforts to promulgate, implement and enforce national laws and international conventions to which they are party, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, that protect women from all types of economic discrimination and from /...