E/CN.6/2024/L.3 school equipment and infrastructure. It further reaffirms the importance of the empowerment of women and girls in and through education and safe, healthy and stimulating learning environments that enable all learners to achieve their full potential and physical, mental and emotional well-being. 28. The Commission expresses concern about the unequal pace of social and economic development and access to education within and among countries and the structural and systemic barriers undermining women ’s and girls’ ability to securely access equitable and quality education and to become equipped with the knowledge, awareness and skills for their social empowerment and women ’s economic empowerment, especially in developing countries, including the least developed countries, and small island developing States and African countries. 29. The Commission reaffirms that the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health is crucial for gender equality and the empowerment of women, including their economic empowerment and their full, equal and meaningful participation and leadership in public and private life. It recognizes that the provision of safe water, sanitation, hygiene, waste and electricity services is fundamental for achieving universal health coverage, strengthening primary health care, improving quality care and reducing the costs and impacts of the spread of antimicrobial resistance. It is deeply concerned that progress in reducing maternal mortality has stagnated in recent years, with almost 95 per cent of deaths occurring in low- and lower-middle-income countries. It also recognizes that the causes, experiences and consequences of poverty can have a disproportionate impact on women and girls and that they may have limited or no access to safe, available, affordable, accessible, quality and inclusive health-care services, including those related to mental health, maternal and neonatal health, and menstrual health and hygiene management, and underlines the need for ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health-care services, including for family planning, information and education. It further recognizes that women with ph ysical and mental health conditions are more vulnerable to experiencing sexual and gender-based violence and that violence is a risk factor for mental health conditions, non-communicable diseases and chronic health conditions. 30. The Commission further recognizes that women and girls undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work, which limits women ’s ability to participate in the labour market and decision-making processes and occupy leadership positions and poses significant constraints on women’s and girls’ education and training and on women’s economic opportunities and entrepreneurial activities, including in the context of addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective. It stresses the ne ed to recognize and adopt measures to reduce, redistribute and value unpaid care and domestic work by promoting the equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men and girls and boys within the household and by prioritizing, inter alia, sustainable infrastructure, social protection policies and accessible, affordable and quality social services, including care services, childcare and paid maternity, paternity or parental leave. 31. The Commission acknowledges that women and girls, throughout their life course, including adolescent girls, experience multidimensional forms of poverty and often have limited access to critical infrastructure such as water, sanitation and electricity, which, inter alia, restricts their time for other activities, such as education and leisure, or, for women, earning a livelihood. It acknowledges that the higher likelihood of career interruptions, part-time employment, lower earnings, concentration in the informal sector and more time spent on unpaid care and domestic work, which limits women’s agency to decide how to spend their time, results in women having fewer assets, savings and social protection benefits, such as pension, health insurance or paid sick leave. 24-05678 7/27