CEDAW/C/GC/40 (e) Adopt multipronged measures, including legal reforms, financial and other incentives for the private sector to appoint women to leadership positions, especially in non-stereotypical roles. 5. Education towards empowerment and leadership 34. Equal access to all levels and aspects of education is enshrined in article 10 and further elaborated in general recommendation No. 36 (2017) on the right of girls and women to education. It is a key precondition for accessing decision -making systems on an equal footing with men and boys. However, the Committee observes that many women and girls still do not benefit from equal access to or participation in education, in law and in practice. The violation of this right is further exacerbated through intersectional discrimination, as seen, for example, against women and girls with disabilities. Even when equal access is granted, gender stereotypes are prevalent in the education system, including in teaching and learning materials, classroom practices, teacher training and biased attitudes towards girls and women both inside and outside the school environment, gearing them towards traditional fields of study and gendered behaviours. This not only keeps women out of certain disciplines that are critical to shaping the future, such as new technologies, including artificial intelligence, but also prevents them from envisioning themselves assuming a decision-making role. It is a key task of an education system to integrate an “education to empowerment”, ensuring that girls, boys, women and men are given the tools necessary to achieve parity and exercise leadership in an equal, responsible and ethical manner. 35. The Committee recommends that States parties: (a) Ensure parity in decision-making about the education system, relating to sector policies, plans, budgets and monitoring processes, and overcome gender segregation patterns within and across disciplines; (b) Integrate women’s rights, women’s leadership and gender equality, and an understanding of and commitment to gender-transformative pedagogies into teacher training at all levels, including on eliminating gender stereotypes in teaching content and the classroom; (c) Eliminate gender stereotypes in teaching and learning materials and integrate “unstereotyping” into learning materials, with a particular focus on early childhood education; (d) Proactively promote gender equality at all education levels and in all subjects and fields, and include mandatory courses at all levels of the school curriculum on gender equality and the prevention and elimination of gender stereotypes; (e) Integrate teaching about women’s rights, ethical leadership, integrity and civic skills into school curricula at all levels, sustaining the empowerment of all students; (f) Ensure, including through awareness-raising and training, the full autonomy of women and girls in decision-making; (g) Raise awareness of women role models in decision-making; (h) Promote gender-transformative, safe and inclusive learning environments, including by integrating into curricula at all levels of education content on the ethical, safe and responsible use of digital technologies, with a strong gender lens, and on the prevention of and defence against online violence; 24-20036 15/29