A/HRC/26/39 access to education, legal capacity, freedom of movement, ownership or enjoyment of property. Discrimination is also found with regard to access to credit, equal retirement age and social security rights. 3. Anti-discrimination legislation 15. There are widespread prohibitions of discrimination against women in education and employment. However, these laws have not led to effective implementation, accountability and de facto equality. Furthermore, in some countries, equal opportunity legislation is restricted to the public sector and has not been applied to the private sector. 4. Cultural and structural barriers 16. 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. 5. Transformative equality 17. The Working Group notes that while constitutional guarantees, elimination of discriminatory laws and the establishment of anti-discrimination legislative framework are vital, they are not sufficient to produce equality in the sphere of economic and social life. In order to achieve women’s full and equal participation in economic and social life, it is essential to adopt a transformative agenda that eliminates the cultural and structural barriers to women’s equal opportunity. 6. Economic empowerment 18. Economic governance is generated not only de jure by political decision-making, but also de facto by the activities of economic and financial institutions, enterprises and corporations at international, transnational and national levels. The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, regional development banks and the World Trade Organization (WTO) constrain national economic policies. In the year 2000, the top 200 companies surpassed the economies of 182 countries; they exercise significant power in determining policy. The private sector creates and defines jobs, produces growth, sets parameters of income distribution and affects the social and environmental conditions of the communities in which they function. 19. There are barriers to women’s access to leadership and decision-making positions in these economic and financial institutions, which generate policies that determine the quality of life of women, men, children and communities. Furthermore, in the emerging area of corporate responsibility, the gendered harm to women resulting from transnational business and trade policies has been largely invisible. There is a need to address these issues and develop tools for gender responsiveness in economic leadership and corporate responsibility. 7. Accountability 20. Effective elimination of discrimination against women in economic and social life requires gender-responsive and effective accountability systems. Although there are some judicial decisions on discrimination against women in economic and social life at the international, regional and national levels, their number is disturbingly low. The 6