A/HRC/53/39 medications.67 These forms of direct and indirect discrimination within health-care systems constitute gender- and poverty-based violations of the right to health. 39. The right to work – guaranteed in article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 6–8 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and article 11 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women – incorporates the right to equal remuneration for work of equal value and decent working conditions. The right to work can enable women to enjoy freedom from poverty, improve their decision-making power within households and society and enable them to exercise greater autonomy over many aspects of their lives. 68 It was reiterated during the Working Group’s consultations that women and girls continued to experience structural gender discrimination in both formal and informal employment on the grounds of pregnancy and caring responsibilities. 69 It was also highlighted that unequal and inadequate remuneration, precarious employment, lack of union representation, and violence and harassment in the workplace are all factors that increase sex- and gender-based inequalities and entrench poverty for women and girls. Submissions to the Working Group stressed the persistence of situations akin to slavery or indentured servitude among local and migrant domestic workers, and the ways in which these practices contribute to maintaining women and girls in situations of poverty and exploitation. Many of the other inputs received by the Working Group focused on the exploitative, precarious and gender-segregated nature of jobs in special economic and export-processing zones, where transnational corporations benefit from tax advantages while failing to adequately respect and protect the human rights of workers, the majority of whom are young women.70 Studies documenting the detrimental impact of the pandemic on women’s rights highlight the large numbers of jobs, primarily those held by workers “at the bottom of the pyramid whose class disadvantage was exacerbated by their marginalized social identity”, that were lost in the manufacturing sector as a result of the crisis.71 40. There are also significant gender inequalities within and between countries and regions in relation to access to finance, assets and digital networks. Data show that women are 9 per cent less likely than men to have a bank account and that they are also discriminated against in the areas of savings, credit, insurance and other financial services. In low- and middle-income countries, 300 million fewer women than men have access to the mobile Internet.72 These inequalities have important implications for women as business owners, particularly in the e-commerce sector, and on their ability to receive wages and social security payments. Rights to bodily autonomy and integrity and to live free from all forms of violence 41. The right to bodily autonomy, recognized in the Beijing Declaration of 1995, as including sexual and reproductive rights and freedoms and the right to live free from violence, is crucial to ensuring that women and girls are equally able to exercise the right to live free from poverty.73 The absence of effective protection against violence and denials of sexual and reproductive autonomy not only deprive women living in poverty of their right to personal integrity, they also impede their right to equal participation in public life, education and employment, and impede the creation of businesses and other income-earning activities. 42. There are many aspects of the rights to bodily autonomy and integrity that are compromised for women and girls living in poverty. While progress has been made in ensuring the accessibility of contraceptive goods and services, there are still 164 million women globally who have an unmet need for family planning; most of these women and girls 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 12 Submission from the Legal Clinic of University of Murcia, with Cepaim. A/HRC/44/51. Shirin M. Rai, Benjamin D. Brown and Kanchana N. Ruwanpura, “SDG 8: decent work and economic growth: a gendered analysis”, World Development, vol. 113, January 2019, pp. 368–380. Submission from APFWLD, “Situation of women workers in SEZ in Asia and the Pacific”. UNRISD, Crises of Inequality, p. 180. World Bank, “The World Bank in Gender”, 6 April 2023. See A/HRC/47/38. GE.23-06173