A/HRC/56/51 customary norms, codes and rules, with no possibility of exemption, waiver or circumvention.54 36. Stereotyped notions about gender roles within the family underlie a number of cultural and religious practices limiting girls’ opportunities to pursue education and self-determined life paths. Some of these practices lead to girls being removed from school to perform domestic labour or being subjected to child and forced marriages. 55 Furthermore, predominant gender stereotypes and patriarchal social norms limit the freedom and space of engagement of girls and young women, who are often portrayed as destroyers of family values and national traditions and confronted with threats and violence, when engaging in activism.56 (d) Health and safety 37. An estimated 810 maternal deaths occur each day globally, and 25 million unsafe abortions take place annually, resulting in approximately 47,000 deaths, primarily in developing countries and among members of socioeconomically disadvantaged and marginalized populations. Every 16 seconds, there is a stillbirth. More than 200 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraception, due to a range of barriers. Millions of women and girls are denied the ability to manage their monthly menstrual cycle safely and with dignity. Those outcomes and barriers increase significantly in times of crisis.57 38. The Working Group has drawn attention to the failure of States to adequately recognize, respect, protect and fulfil the sexual and reproductive health rights of women and girls, both before and during times of crisis. It has also highlighted the frequent lack of attention to the key underlying factors that make a given situation “critical” for various populations, especially women and girls. Many situations of crisis are predetermined by cumulative layers of pre-existing inequalities and discrimination, which may be starkly exposed and deeply exacerbated by a specific event.58 39. During crises, States often divert financial and human resources from sexual and reproductive health care and impose restrictions on services, thereby deeming them non-essential, which amounts in practice to a retrogression incompatible with States’ human rights obligations. Such restrictions often continue to undermine access to sexual and reproductive health care after a crisis has ended, and, in the majority of cases, reconstruction programmes and recovery plans fail to prioritize sexual and reproductive health. Furthermore, gender equality does not always figure among the priorities of donors, which often drive interventions in situations of humanitarian crisis. Sexual and reproductive health services are typically not considered essential or urgent, despite the specific risks and vulnerabilities faced by women and girls. In some cases, even maternity care is reportedly not adequately funded or prioritized because it is not perceived as a “humanitarian” concern.59 3. Challenges to gender equality for specific groups of women and girls 40. In its thematic reports, the Working Group has identified specific challenges faced by distinct groups of women and girls who, because of multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, experience compounded inequality in all aspects of their lives. Some of these challenges, which are related to the themes covered by the Working Group’s reports over the past six years, are outlined below. (a) Women and girls belonging to racial or ethnic minorities or Indigenous Peoples 41. The Working Group has emphasized that there are communities of women and girls that have been subjected to a “persistent state of crisis”, such as Indigenous and Roma women 54 55 56 57 58 59 10 A/HRC/29/40, para. 73 (a) (i) and (c) (v). A/HRC/41/33, para. 24. A/HRC/50/25, para. 29. A/HRC/47/38, para. 16. Ibid., paras. 9, 11 and 14. Ibid., paras. 26 and 33. GE.24-07559