School-related gender-based violence takes different forms, with girls in some countries violently targeted for attending school, while in other countries, they are subject in school to sexual violence or harassment, including by teachers. Such violence results in trauma, stigmatization and sometimes pregnancy, and severely curtails girls' educational opportunities. In many States, sexual intercourse with a minor is considered rape, as minors are not capable of consent, but only 32 out of 100 States have specific provisions on sexual harassment at schools. Examples of good practices by some States include introducing confidential school reporting mechanisms, capacity-building for police, child-friendly courts, a public register of sexual offenders and barring sexual offenders from teaching.

The legal rights of women and girls to equality and non-discrimination in cultural and family life, established in 1948 by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by international human rights law, are often restricted in national laws and in practice, including in cultural practice. The Working Group emphasizes that, in accordance with international human rights law, States have an obligation to adopt appropriate measures with a view to eliminating all forms of discrimination against women and girls in laws, cultural practices and the family, whether perpetrated by State agents or private actors.

Substantive equality in the area of health and safety requires differential treatment. Throughout their life cycle from childhood to old age, women have health needs and vulnerabilities that are distinctively different from those of men. Women have specific biological functions, are exposed to health problems that affect only women, are victims of pervasive gender-based violence and, statistically speaking, live longer than men, resulting in their greater need to access health services frequently and into older age. Hence, women and girls experience the negative effects of insufficiencies in health-care services more intensively than men.

Many girls are exposed to a wide variety of practices which are harmful to their health and well-being, such as female genital mutilation, discrimination in food allocation resulting in malnutrition and discrimination in access to professional health care. Furthermore, early marriage and adolescent pregnancy have a long-lasting impact on girls' physical integrity and mental health. Pregnancy and childbirth are together the second leading cause of death among 15- to 19-year-old girls globally, putting them at the highest risk of dying or suffering serious lifelong injuries as a result of pregnancy. For example, up to 65 per cent of women with obstetric fistula, which is a severely disabling condition and often results in social exclusion, develop this condition as adolescents.

All legal definitions of the family should include the right to equality, de jure and de facto, of women and girls within the family. Full equality between women and men, and girls and boys, is a requirement of international human rights law and constitutes a right of women that is vital for the well-being of the family and for society as a whole.

The following case study from the African region elucidates the myriad factors required to develop and maintain a good practice in addressing violence against girls, as well as the attendant impacts on the right to health, safety and access to justice, among others. The background to the case begins with a constitutional reform process undertaken with high levels of public engagement, resulting in 2010 in a robust new constitution that included strong equality provisions, the incorporation of international and regional human rights treaties and the creation of an ameliorating environment for public interest litigation.

Women and girls belonging to minority communities, rural and indigenous women, migrant women, refugee women and those seeking asylum, and poor women face discriminatory practices in the implementation of laws on nationality and citizenship. They face prejudicial attitudes as well as structural obstacles which limit access to formal registration of births, marriage, residence and other citizenship documents as well as to relevant information on their rights as citizens. Women who are de facto heads of households, including those who have been abandoned by their husbands, whose divorce is not legally registered, or whose husbands have been forcibly disappeared and do not have death certificates for their husbands , are denied recognition of their status in official documents. Without such access, women from these communities become disproportionately vulnerable in exercising their full and equal rights as citizens.

The family is the basic unit of society and, as such, should be strengthened. It is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. The family plays a key role in social development and in the growth and well-being of children, including girls. Women and girls' ability to act and participate in the different aspects of life in society derives mainly from respect for their right to equality with men and boys in the family. In this context, the Working Group deems it essential for families to be formed in such a way that women and girls' right to equality is fully recognized, respected, protected, fulfilled and promoted.

Central among women's and girls' health needs are those relating to their reproductive and sexual health. Substantive equality requires that States attend to the risk factors that predominantly affect women. For instance, since only women can become pregnant, a lack of access to contraceptives is bound to affect their health disproportionately. Equality in reproductive health requires access, without discrimination, to affordable, quality contraception; maternal health care, including during childbirth and the post-partum period; access to safe termination of pregnancy; access to effective screening and early treatment for breast and cervical cancer; and special attention to the high rate of HIV infections among young women and treatment to prevent mother-to-infant transmission.

Equality also requires health policy to be based solely on women's health needs and not to be influenced by instrumentalization and politicization. Political contestation around rights to reproductive and sexual health remains a global challenge, resulting in women paying a high price in terms of their health and lives. In adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, States committed to ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education, and the integration of reproductive health into national strategies and programmes. A strong commitment to women's sexual and reproductive rights in international and national law, policies and programmes is crucial for achieving gender equality and ensuring women's and girl's right to health and well-being.

Overmedicalization may result in reduced access to or affordability of services needed by women and a barrier to developing adequate alternative services which can be competently provided by nurses, midwives or auxiliary nurses, either at clinics or at home. Such "task shifting", particularly in places where there are few qualified doctors, would make services more accessible. Similarly, restricting authorization for the use of contraceptives to a medical practitioner is a barrier to access. Allowing pharmacists to provide contraceptives, including emergency contraceptives, over the counter is essential for effective availability, especially for economically disadvantaged women or adolescent girls.

The Constitutional Court used its power to assess implementation of its own judgment, issuing two further orders on the rights of displaced women. In 2008, the Court handed down a decision that was considered a global pioneer in the treatment of sexual violence during internal armed conflict. It identified 10 risks that forcibly displaced women faced, including extreme risk of sexual violence, and 18 gender facets of displacement, including patterns of discrimination and violence. Accordingly, the Court ordered the Government to create and implement 13 programmes with a gender-sensitive approach, including violence prevention, the right to health and education and access to land, justice and reparations. The Court also took an intersectoral approach, highlighting heightened risks faced by girls, indigenous, black and community women leaders, and women with disabilities. The Court ordered the allocation of sufficient resources to guarantee implementation of the programmes, refusing to recognize lack of budget as valid justification for non-compliance.

Most countries only track enrolment and not completion rates, yet enrolment is an inherently flawed measure of girls' access to education. Attendance is a better measure, as girls' attendance may be cut short due to domestic responsibilities such as cooking, fetching water and firewood, and childcare; lack of adequate sanitation in schools to meet the needs of menstruating girls; early marriage or pregnancy; and gender-based violence and harassment, including in schools. In situations of economic contraction, as households cope with declining household income, girls are more vulnerable to being pulled out of school, with girls experiencing a 29 per cent decrease in primary school completion rates versus 22 per cent for boys.

National constitutions are generally the supreme law in most States and form the foundation of the State's institutional and legal structures. They also provide the framework for the elimination of discrimination against women. An explicit constitutional guarantee of gender equality is fundamental to combating discrimination against women and girls in law and in practice. Many countries have already recognized and enshrined this principle of equality in their constitutional laws, and it is essential that it apply in all areas of law, including family law.

Menstruation is surrounded by stigma, resulting in the ostracism of and discrimination against women and girls. In some cultures menstruating women and girls are considered to be contaminated and impure and restrictions and interdictions during menstruation are imposed on them. Women and girls may continue to harbour internalized stigma and are embarrassed to discuss menstruation even where there are no restrictions. They live with a lack of privacy for cleaning and washing, a fear of staining and smelling and a lack of hygiene in school toilets or separate sanitation facilities.

The stigma and shame generated by stereotypes around menstruation have severe impacts on all aspects of women's and girls' lives, on their dignity and well-being as well as on their right to education and to employment, as they may feel obliged to stay home from school or work every month because of appropriate facilities and hygienic items are not available. Characterizing women's menstrual pain as "neurotic" tends to make women reluctant to seek help, which can delay diagnosis of, for example, the severely disabling disease of endometriosis, in which tissue that normally grows inside the uterus grows in an abnormal anatomical location.

No country has succeeded in closing the gender gap in all aspects of economic and social life. From her first days to her last, a woman's experiences will inevitably be marked by the expectations, beliefs, stereotypes, values, opportunities, roles and responsibilities associated with being female in her culture. While every girl is unique and every woman's life is different, in all societies they share certain aspects of quality of life as a result of living in a gendered and patriarchal reality. Gender discrimination and inequality manifest themselves at all stages of women's life cycle.

The role of women in the family has generally been under patriarchal control in cultures and religions that subject women and girls to forced and/or early marriage and discrimination in a number of areas of family life, such as consent to enter into marriage, dowry obligations, the right to possess and manage property, sexual relations, requirements regarding modesty and freedom of movement, guardianship and custody of children, divorce and division of matrimonial assets, the punishment of adultery, the right to remarry following dissolution of the marriage or death of the husband, the status of widows and inheritance. In addition, women and girls are generally not treated equally in families with regard to the division of rights and responsibilities. Discrimination against women and girls in the family and in marriage affects all aspects of their lives.

Indigenous women experience a complex spectrum of mutually reinforcing human rights abuses which is influenced by intersecting forms of discrimination and marginalization, reinforced by patriarchal power structures and past and present forms of violations of the right to self-determination and control of resources. These intersecting forms of discrimination have profound health consequences for indigenous women, especially for their reproductive and sexual health. The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples has reported (see A/HRC/30/41) about the barriers to reproductive and sexual health services encountered by indigenous women as well as past and recurrent human rights violations in relation to their sexual and reproductive rights. For example, indigenous women experience disproportionately higher levels of maternal mortality, indigenous girls are overrepresented among pregnant teenagers and indigenous women have lower rates of contraceptive use and higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. Historically, there have also been instances of serious violations of indigenous women's rights to reproductive health in the context of the denial of the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination and cultural autonomy. Those violations include forced sterilization of indigenous women and attempts to force them to have children with non-indigenous men as part of policies of cultural assimilation. Indigenous women may also face barriers to preventive care services that support their right to health, such as screening for ovarian and breast cancer.

Research overwhelmingly indicated that the presence of women in rural governance has had positive impacts on key gendered concerns, including the improvement of health services, water and sanitation facilities, and microcredit schemes for women. Issues related to discrimination and violence against women were also being addressed by women representatives. Additional research showed significant impacts on attitudinal changes and in the elimination of gender stereotypes, demonstrated in shifts in the organization of labour in households, women’s self-perception and increased societal support for girls’ education and future aspirations. These correlations increased in villages where women chairs had been elected a second time.

In its decision, the Court recognized that the girls’ constitutional rights had been violated and that the police had failed to act with due diligence as agents of the State. The police force was ordered to implement article 244 of the Constitution, requiring them to train staff to the highest possible standards of competence and integrity and to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms and dignity. Police officers were ordered to investigate the perpetrators of the 11 applicants and to ensure effective investigations in all child rape claims. As at early 2016, 80 per cent of such cases had resulted in convictions, while others were pending before courts and additional investigations had been initiated. The judgment has been referenced in other cases, including an important class action suit by victims of post-election violence, and the high courts have issued further progressive decisions on related grounds.

What makes this case study a uniquely good practice is that, rather than ending with a court decision, the coalition of organizations involved continued to work together to expand that decision into a comprehensive movement for change. The 160 Girls Project developed as a result of the case centres on training and education programmes involving police, shelters, social workers and community members to ensure a multi-level long-term impact. A rape investigation training programme for police was developed that included a peer-to-peer train-the-trainers element with international police officers and ongoing training from equality lawyers and the national human rights commission. Research has shown positive impacts, including documented attitudinal changes and increased professionalism in the handling of child rape cases. Furthermore, training programmes have been developed for shelter workers on documenting sexual violence cases and the rights of victims.

Community education programmes are a key component of the implementation strategy. In this case, a robust pilot project on public legal education included community training on the decision and the related girls’ rights and police obligations; awareness-raising events including drama/theatre and panel discussions; rights-training for children; a smartphone application giving details on the steps to take in rape investigations; and public awareness materials, including billboards, radio and television programmes, social media outreach and short videos on the Internet. These measures have been replicated in other parts of the country.

While the ongoing efforts of project partners have ensured sustained impacts, the context of endemic sexualized violence against girls and women continues to be an issue. Those regions of the country that face heightened security issues present challenges, and it remains to be demonstrated whether there can be shifts in public sentiment regarding rape of women. A highly active civil society ensures that courts continue to be used to push for progress on the implementation of girls’ rights and on State responsibility for protecting children against sexual violence. However, it is unclear whether civil society organizations bear a disproportionate burden vis-à-vis the State, and whether the enabling context for such organizations will be maintained. Challenges include ensuring ongoing sources of funding for the project and decreasing reliance on overseas funding.

In one State in the Western Europe and others group, indigenous women and girls continued to be the target of racially motivated sexual and gender-based violence that began with colonization, as affirmed in a 2015 inquiry report by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in which the Committee noted grave and systemic violations of indigenous women’s rights, exacerbated by entrenched discrimination that impeded access to justice. In a rural, predominantly indigenous region of the State, a series of high-profile cases, including the acquittal of federal police officers for sexual assault and the death of an indigenous man in police custody, had led to the mobilization of civil society organizations and public outcry, precipitating a government review of the police force in 2010. Local women’s organizations lobbied for inclusion in order to push for an improved response by the justice system to violence against women.

In view of the broad thematic scope of its mandate, covering discrimination against women in law and in practice, the Working Group has identified four thematic areas of focus, namely, political and public life; economic and social life; family and cultural life; and health and safety. The Working Group regards violence against women and the intersection of various grounds of discrimination as cross-cutting in all of its work. It is paying particular attention to specific groups of women, including but not limited to women living in poverty, migrant women, women with disabilities, women belonging to minorities, rural and indigenous women, older women, girls, including adolescents, women in conflict and post-conflict situations, refugee women, internally displaced women and stateless women.

Domestic workers caring for children, the disabled and ageing people, are a highly vulnerable category of employees, often in the informal sector. About 83 per cent are women or girls, and many are migrant workers. Domestic workers often encounter deplorable working conditions; labour exploitation; extortionate recruitment fees resulting in debt; confiscation of passports; long, unregulated hours of work; lack of privacy; exposure to physical and sexual abuse; and separation from their own families and children. The ILO Domestic Workers Convention (No. 189) calls for States to guarantee decent work for domestic workers, and thus several countries have introduced new protections.

The cultural construction of gender is conducive to generalized discrimination against women in all cultures. Discrimination against women and girls cannot, therefore, be considered an essentialist element, present in certain cultures and not in others. Since cultures are neither homogeneous nor unchanging, there are very significant differences between them concerning their stages of development and the extent to which the patriarchy, misogyny and practices that are harmful to women and girls exist within them.

Culture, when understood as a macro concept, also includes religion. Religion constitutes an institutionalized aspect of culture, with its own sources of authority that regulate social behaviour. It is often based on the concept of transcendental authority, and most religions have codified normative systems. Change must be wrought within the religious hierarchy of the community and must conform to the religious dogma of the written sources. As a consequence, religions are often a haven against social and cultural change. In all religions, there are movements that resist any change to the patriarchy and the status of women and girls in the family. Conversely, non-gender-based discriminatory practices, including some previously defended in the name of culture and religion, such as slavery, have been delegitimized or abandoned as values and ethics have evolved.

In many contexts, States fail to establish and enforce a clear legal hierarchy based on the guarantees of equality and non-discrimination set forth in international human rights law and national legislation, thus helping to maintain patriarchal modes of organization and behaviours. Even when the law is independent of any religious source, it may be strongly influenced by culture, deriving from dominant ideologies linked to religion, traditional attitudes and social norms. Some States adopt national laws and regulations that restrict the rights, power and mobility of women on the basis of essentialist points of view belonging to a particular culture or religion. Conservative religious extremist movements impose strict modesty codes in order to subjugate women and girls in the name of religion, particularly in situations of political transition or conflict. For example, some branches of Islam have reintroduced forced and/or early marriage and some branches of Christianity prevent women from having access to therapeutic abortion. Religious extremism limits women's rights, including their right to health and economic activity, and they are generally subject to harsh sanctions for crimes committed against the patriarchy, such as adultery. At the international level, many States justify their reservations to articles of several human rights conventions, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, in the name of preserving their cultures and religions. Human Rights Council resolutions 16/3 on promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms through a better understanding of traditional values of humankind and 26/11 on the protection of the family threaten to undermine international achievements in the field of human rights in the name of cultural and religious diversity.