Women are disadvantaged economically as a result of social and cultural parameters, including stereotyping, discrimination and violence. A structural barrier to women's economic empowerment is the disparate feminization of unpaid care responsibilities. These cultural and structural barriers appear throughout girls' and women's life cycle and, indeed, women's economic situation varies throughout their life cycle more than men's.

Ensuring girls' education may require protecting their families against economic shocks and incentivizing parents to keep their girls in school. Cash transfer programmes, for example, have assisted families in return for committing to keeping their girls and boys in school and attending regular health checks, or by providing a stipend to girls who agree to delay marriage until they complete secondary education. Such programmes have been successful in decreasing girls' dropout rates.

[According to general recommendation No. 29 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the family is a social and legal construct and, in various countries, a religious construct. It also is an economic construct. The Working Group recommends that States:] Assess, quantify and take account of the impact of women and girls' status in the family in all poverty-reduction policies.

A disproportionate amount of unpaid care work falls on women, limiting women's capacity to engage in paid work. This is evidenced in empirical studies which show that women, whether or not they are in paid employment, spend between twice to four times the amount of hours on care functions than do men. Up to 90 per cent of home care due to illness is performed by women and girls.

[Urges Member States, in collaboration with the organizations of the United Nations system and civil society, as appropriate, to continue their efforts to implement the outcome of and to ensure an integrated and coordinated follow-up to the relevant United Nations conferences and summits, including their reviews, and to attach greater importance to the improvement of the situation of rural women and girls in their national, regional and global development strategies by, inter alia:] Mobilizing resources, including at the national level and through official development assistance, for increasing women’s access to existing savings and credit schemes, as well as targeted programmes that provide women with capital, knowledge and tools that enhance their economic capacities;

Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage continues to be an impediment to not only the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but to the development of the community as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, as well as their meaningful participation in decisions that affect them, is a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty and is critical for sustainable development and economic growth,

11. Calls upon all States to assess and examine systematically, in close cooperation with international organizations such as the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund, the magnitude, nature and causes of the exploitation of child labour and to develop and implement strategies for combating these practices, with a specific emphasis on the situation of girls, their right to education and access to schools on an equal basis with boys, in close cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization;

Acknowledging that girls, working in accordance with national law and under other circumstances, may experience violence in the world of work, condemning child labour in all its forms and reaffirming the obligations of Member States in accordance with international law to protect children, including from economic exploitation, abuse and discrimination,

Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage undermines women’s and girls’ autonomy and decision-making in all aspects of their lives, and remains an impediment not only to the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but also to the development of society as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, the meaningful participation of girls in all decisions that affect them, and women’s full, equal and effective participation at all levels of decision-making are a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty, and are critical for, inter alia, sustainable development, peace, security, democracy and inclusive economic growth,

Mindful that women and girls account for more than half of the world population, that equal rights and opportunities are key in achieving sustainable economic, political and social development and lasting solutions to global challenges, and that gender equality benefits women, men, girls and boys in society as a whole,

3. Encourages Member States to enact and/or reinforce penal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to punish and redress the wrongs done to women and girls who are subjected to any form of violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society;

Also calls upon States to promote the rights of women and girls and to support their empowerment by adopting, as appropriate, a coherent set of gender-responsive social and economic policies directed at the family, the workplace and the marketplace, and by addressing poverty and social exclusion in order to overcome the structural barriers and inequalities they face and thereby to ensure their long-term and sustainable participation in economic and social life;

Requests all States to promote innovative programmes that provide incentives to low-income families with school-age children in order to increase the enrolment and attendance of girls and boys, and to ensure that children are not obliged to work in a way that interferes with their schooling or represents a risk to their health or well-being, and that they are not taken into care because of poverty;

Calls upon States to promote the rights of women and girls and to support their empowerment by adopting, as appropriate, a coherent set of gender-responsive social and economic policies directed at the family, the workplace and the marketplace, and by addressing poverty and social exclusion in order to overcome the structural barriers and inequalities they face and to thereby ensure their long-term and sustainable participation in political and public life;

[Urges States to demonstrate their commitment to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, thereby reducing barriers to women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including by:] Promoting women’s full participation in the formal economy, in particular in economic decision-making, and their equal access to full and productive employment, decent work and social protection, ensuring that women and men enjoy equal treatment in the workplace, as well as equal pay for equal work or work of equal value, and equal access to power and decision-making, and promoting the equal distribution of paid and unpaid work, including valuing unpaid care work;

Underscoring the positive role that intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions, regional development banks, civil society, including non-governmental organizations, the private sector, employer organizations, trade unions, media and other relevant organizations can play in supporting State action to promote women’s economic empowerment and political participation, which can help to reduce violence against women and girls,

Urges Governments, with the collaboration of relevant stakeholders, to tackle poverty and lack of economic opportunities for women and girls as drivers of child, early and forced marriage, including by ensuring women and girls inheritance and property rights, equal access to social protection, including direct financial support and microcredit for girls, families and guardians to encourage girls to continue their education; to develop livelihood opportunities and life skills education; and to promote women’s equal access to full and productive employment and decent work, as well as equal political participation and rights to inherit, own and control land and productive resources;

Mindful of the fact that the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women and girls requires the consideration of their specific socioeconomic context, including their increased vulnerability to certain patterns of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, and that the non-participation of all women and girls in decision-making contributes to the feminization of poverty and hampers sustainable development and economic growth,

[Urges States to demonstrate their commitment to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, thereby reducing barriers to women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including by:] Promoting equal and full access to and control over agricultural assets and productive resources, as well as membership in professional or trade associations and access to information networks;

[Urges States to demonstrate their commitment to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, thereby reducing barriers to women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including by:] Promoting equal access to literacy, education, health services, food security, vocational, professional and leadership skills training, mentorship and employment opportunities, which ensure that women have access to the skills that are necessary to ensure their full political and economic empowerment;

[Urges States to demonstrate their commitment to preventing and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, thereby reducing barriers to women’s social, economic and political empowerment, including by:] Incorporating a gender perspective into social and economic policies, including development and poverty eradication strategies, with a view to ensuring that the formulation and implementation of relevant strategies contribute to women’s economic empowerment, thereby reducing their risk of violence;

Welcomes the adoption by the General Assembly of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and emphasizes that there are targets therein to "by 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value" (target 8.5 of the Sustainable Development Goals) and to "recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public services, infrastructure and social protection policies and the promotion of shared responsibility within the household and the family, as nationally appropriate" (target 5.4 of the Sustainable Development Goals), strengthening the efforts towards gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and calls for the implementation of its relevant goals and targets;

4. Also calls upon States to promote the rights of women and girls and to support their empowerment by adopting, as appropriate, a coherent set of gender-responsive social and economic policies directed at the family, the workplace and the marketplace, and by addressing poverty and social exclusion in order to overcome the structural barriers and inequalities they face and thereby to ensure their long-term and sustainable participation in economic and social life;

Mindful of the fact that the elimination of discrimination against women and girls requires the consideration of their specific socioeconomic context, and recognizing that laws, policies, customs and traditions that restrict their equal access to full participation in development processes and public and political life are discriminatory, and that the non-participation of women in decision-making contributes to the feminization of poverty and hampers sustainable development and economic growth,

Recognizing further that child, early and forced marriage continues to be an impediment to not only the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but also to the development of the community as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, as well as their meaningful participation in decisions that affect them, are a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty and is critical for sustainable development and economic growth,

Expressing concern about institutional and structural discrimination against women and girls, such as laws, policies, regulations, programmes, administrative procedures or structures and services that directly or indirectly regulate access to institutions, property and land ownership, health, education, employment and access to credit, which negatively affect women’s empowerment and increase their vulnerability to violence,

Recognizing that child, early and forced marriage undermines women’s and girls’ autonomy and decision-making in all aspects of their lives, and remains an impediment not only to the economic, legal, health and social status of women and girls but also to the development of society as a whole, and that the empowerment of and investment in women and girls, the meaningful participation of girls in all decisions that affect them, and women’s full, equal and effective participation at all levels of decision-making are a key factor in breaking the cycle of gender inequality and discrimination, violence and poverty, and are critical for, inter alia, sustainable development, peace, security, democracy and inclusive economic growth,

Noting with concern that child, early and forced marriage disproportionally affects girls who have received little or no formal education, and is itself a significant obstacle to educational opportunities for girls and young women, in particular girls who are forced to drop out of school owing to marriage, pregnancy, childbirth and/or childcare responsibilities, and recognizing that educational opportunities are directly related to the empowerment of women and girls, their employment and economic opportunities and their active participation in economic, social and cultural development, governance and decision-making,

Underscoring the fact that shame, stigma, fear of reprisals and negative economic consequences, such as loss of livelihood or reduced household income, prevent many women and girls from leaving dangerous relationships, reporting or acting as witnesses in cases of domestic violence, and seeking redress and justice for these crimes,

Calls on States to ensure full representation and full equal participation of women in political, social and economic decision-making as an essential condition for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls as a critical factor in the eradication of poverty;