A/HRC/50/25 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as they witnessed existing inequalities being exposed and exacerbated. In some cases, inspiration came from role models and women’s mobilization in their own communities, countries or abroad for the defence of their rights (such as the mobilization of women during the Arab Spring and the #MeToo campaign) or by actions taken by members of local and international movements on, for example, protecting the environment and the climate. 24. Girls’ and young women’s activism unfolds at all levels, online and offline, local and international, although it is more common at local and community levels. Their activism often begins at school and in girl-led groups, mostly through involvement in student organizations within post-secondary and tertiary education institutions. They engage with different actors, including State authorities, diplomats and political parties; independent institutions, such as ombudspersons and national human rights institutions; civil society organizations and movements, including feminist activists and organizations; communitybased, religious and cultural institutions; and the media. Their engagement with the United Nations and international and regional human rights mechanisms, although increasing, is still limited, owing to a variety of factors. 25. While some girls and young activists operate through formal structures, others organize informally and receive financial and other support through host organizations or umbrella structures. In some cases, informality is a choice, aimed at avoiding being subject to control by third parties and the imposition of external agendas. In other cases, it is the result of legal, administrative and financial barriers. 26. Frequently confronted with exclusion from formal decision-making processes, girl and young women activists tend to utilize alternative ways of engaging in public life, making use of decentralized initiatives, digital tools, radio talk shows, public demonstrations, informal protests and innovative campaigns, including artistic expressions. One example is the performance created by a feminist youth group, entitled “La culpa no era mía” (it was not my fault), that denounced sexual violence, which has inspired many other similar initiatives across the globe. The young activists sometimes use in-person advocacy tactics, including with parliamentarians, and invest in research and fund-raising in order to build evidence and promote public reflection around certain topics. They increasingly use online spaces; social media platforms are used to organize, mobilize, network, campaign and advocate. As one girl said: “We ourselves have been opening spaces and we have not waited for others to come and give us the opportunity.” D. Challenges and barriers 1. Structural gender- and age-based discrimination 27. Girls and young women face specific barriers that encompass different types of obstacles, including those derived from structural discrimination based on sex, gender and age, rooted in discriminatory social norms and harmful stereotypes. The Working Group has already demonstrated the persistence of a global discriminatory cultural construction of gender, often based on religious interpretation, and the continued cultural justifications for discriminatory laws and practices among States and other stakeholders. It has particularly emphasized that failure to eliminate discrimination within the family undermines any attempt to ensure gender equality in all areas of society.26 28. In general, children and young people are confronted with adult-centrist and paternalistic attitudes. They are often treated as incapable of making decisions about their lives because of a perceived lack of maturity or experience, or are considered “troublemakers”, unable to constructively contribute to public debates and thus addressed with hostility.27 As explained by activists: “our societies take as a joke what we say about gender equality” or “they take us as if we don’t know what we want, but we do: they just don’t believe us”. Girls face additional challenges, as they are often discouraged from speaking 26 27 8 See A/HRC/29/40 and A/HRC/38/46. See Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 20 (2016), A/HRC/19/55 and A/76/222.