CEDAW/C/GC/40 regime of systematic oppression and domination of women, committed with the intention of maintaining a regime that is increasingly referred to as “gender apartheid”. 26It is therefore crucial to codify the crime of “gender apartheid” to create full accountability for gender-based crimes. 12. A transformative approach addressing patriarchy, as presented in the present general recommendation, is in line with article 5 (a) of the Convention, 27 which commits States parties to eliminating prejudices and practices that are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women. 13. To this end, the Committee identifies seven pillars of equal and inclusive representation in decision-making systems: (a) fifty-fifty parity between women and men in decision-making systems as a starting point and universal norm; (b) effective youth leadership conditioned by parity; (c) intersectionality and the inclusion of women in all their diversity in decision-making systems; (d) a comprehensive approach to decision-making systems across spheres; (e) equal power and influence exercised by women in decision-making systems; (f) structural transformation for the equal and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems; and (g) civil society representation in decision-making systems. A. Fifty-fifty parity between women and men in decision-making systems as a starting point and universal norm 14. Targets of 30 per cent for the representation of women in decision -making are incompatible with the Convention’s core aim of elimination of discrimination against women, as they convey a message that inequality between women and men is justifiable. Decision-making will have real and dynamic meaning and lasting effect only when it is based on fifty-fifty parity and takes equal account of the interests of both women and men. The equal and inclusive representation of women is also an important driver of integrity, as it disrupts pre-established collusive networks. 28 15. As reflected in the concluding observations of the Committee, a growing number of States parties have passed or are considering parity laws for elections and other decision-making roles. Parity means the full and equal sharing of power on a fifty-fifty basis between women and men as a permanent and core feature of all areas, including political, public and economic life. Legislation guaranteeing parity is thus not intended to be removed once women’s historical disadvantages have been redressed but remains as a legal principle and permanent and universal feature of good governance. References to parity in the present general recommendation are always in relation to fifty-fifty parity between women and men in all their diversity. __________________ 26 27 28 24-20036 In article 7 (1) (h) of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on gender grounds is identified as an act that constitutes a crime against humanity. There is a growing call, including among human rights mechanisms of the Human Rights Council and civil society, for the codification of the crime of gender apartheid under international law, including in the definition of apartheid in article 2 (2) (h) of the Proposed International Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity. Unless otherwise indicated, articles refer to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. See also United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, The Time is Now: Addressing the Gender Dimensions of Corruption (Vienna, 2020). 7/29