Strengthening national legislation, policies and programmes fields of science and technology, which represents a loss of talent and perspectives, hinders economic development and women’s economic empowerment and can contribute to the gender pay gap. (a) Mainstream a gender perspective in legislation, policies and programmes within all governmental sectors, including education, training, science and technology, academia, research institutions and research funding agencies, in order to address unequal access and participation of women and girls in education, training and science and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work; 19. The Commission expresses concern about high drop-out rates from school of female students in many parts of the world, especially at the secondary level, and including at the tertiary level, owing to multiple discrimination and factors that impede girls’ participation in education. 20. The Commission expresses concern that the unequal sharing of responsibilities of daily life, including caregiving between women and men, girls and boys, has a disproportionate impact on women’s and girls’ access to education, training and science and technology, and on their economic empowerment and long-term economic security. (b) Strengthen capacities to ensure that science educa- tion policies and curricula are relevant to the needs of women and girls so that developments in science and technology can directly benefit them; (c) Improve and systematize the collection, analysis 21. The Commission underlines that addressing the and dissemination of sex-, age- and disability-disaggregated data; enhance capacity development in this regard; and develop relevant gender-sensitive indicators to support legislative development and policymaking on education, training and science and technology; barriers to equal access of women and girls to education, training and science and technology requires a systematic, comprehensive, integrated, sustainable, multidisciplinary and multisectoral approach, including policy, legislative and programmatic interventions and, as appropriate, gender-responsive budgeting, at all levels. (d) Encourage the provision of institutional and financial support for academic studies that can produce gender-specific knowledge and feed into all policies and programmes on education, training and research and support research, including longitudinal policy research, to identify specific gaps in education and career pathways, so as to promote the retention of women and girls in different fields of science and technology and in other relevant disciplines; 22.  The Commission urges Governments, at all levels, including local authorities and national machineries for the advancement of women, and/or, as appropriate, the relevant entities of the United Nations system and international and regional organizations, within their respective mandates and bearing in mind national priorities, and invites national human rights institutions where they exist, and civil society, including non-governmental organizations, academia, educational, scientific research and funding institutions, the private sector, employer organizations, trade unions, professional associations, the media and other relevant actors, to take the following actions, as appropriate: (e) Strengthen the monitoring and evaluation and, where appropriate, the review of existing policies and programmes to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women in education, training, science and technology, and access to full employment and decent work, in order to assess their effectiveness and impact, ensure a gender perspective in all policies and programmes and strengthen accountability; (f) Encourage and, as appropriate, increase public and private investment in education and training to expand women’s and girls’ access to quality education and training throughout their life cycle, 3