A/HRC/26/39 IV. Structural disadvantage and discrimination throughout women’s life cycle 32. No country has succeeded in closing the gender gap in all aspects of economic and social life. From her first days to her last, a woman’s experiences will inevitably be marked by the expectations, beliefs, stereotypes, values, opportunities, roles and responsibilities associated with being female in her culture. While every girl is unique and every woman’s life is different, in all societies they share certain aspects of quality of life as a result of living in a gendered and patriarchal reality. Gender discrimination and inequality manifest themselves at all stages of women’s life cycle. A. The girl child7 33. Education of girls is key to quality of life for girls, adult women, families and communities. Education has a multiplier effect, increasing labour force participation and reducing child and maternal mortality. A country’s progress depends, among other things, on the enhancement of its female human capital. Above all, education is a basic human right that must, at all levels, be made equally available to girls. 34. The gender gap in education is not as stark as it once was: today, female enrolment is rising at greater rate than among males, and data show the achievement of gender parity at primary and/or secondary levels in two thirds of countries. In 2013, 25 countries had fully closed the gap in educational attainment at all levels (5 more than in 2012) with, in some cases, even disparities in favour of girls. 35. Despite this significant progress, there are still social and cultural barriers preventing girls’ access to school in some countries, as resonantly evidenced by Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani schoolgirl who was the victim of an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen in 2012 and has since been a vocal advocate for girls’ right to education. 36. Most countries only track enrolment and not completion rates, yet enrolment is an inherently flawed measure of girls’ access to education. Attendance is a better measure, as girls’ attendance may be cut short due to domestic responsibilities such as cooking, fetching water and firewood, and childcare; lack of adequate sanitation in schools to meet the needs of menstruating girls; early marriage or pregnancy; and gender-based violence and harassment, including in schools. In situations of economic contraction, as households cope with declining household income, girls are more vulnerable to being pulled out of school, with girls experiencing a 29 per cent decrease in primary school completion rates versus 22 per cent for boys. 37. Ensuring girls’ education may require protecting their families against economic shocks and incentivizing parents to keep their girls in school. Cash transfer programmes, for example, have assisted families in return for committing to keeping their girls and boys in school and attending regular health checks, or by providing a stipend to girls who agree to delay marriage until they complete secondary education. Such programmes have been successful in decreasing girls’ dropout rates. 38. While educational gender parity shows signs of improvement, it is often not reflected in parallel gains in economic and political participation. Amongst countries that have invested in girls’ education, some see returns in terms of women’s economic and 7 This section draws upon the background paper by Mayra Gomez. See also the bibliography for this section. 9