IV • Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls 49. A United Nations voluntary fund for minorities should be created to enable minority representatives, to participate in, assist and use the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations system. This fund should ensure that its composition be gender-balanced. The voluntary fund should also provide funding for projects managed by minority groups in general and minority women’s groups in particular, aimed at guaranteeing the enjoyment of their rights by minority women, and strengthening their effective participation in all spheres of life. E. Media 50. Private and public media actors should avoid perpetuating existing misconceptions and stereotypes about minority women and ensure that they conform fully to legislation and guidelines for the media with regard to non-discrimination and the appropriateness of references and language. Media reports should be monitored by independent oversight bodies to ensure compliance with standards, and penalties should be imposed for breach of standards. Media should evaluate and, where necessary, increase the representation of minority women in their staff and in all categories. Efforts should be made to ensure positive representation of minority women in broadcast programming; this includes programme content that portrays minority women positively and raises awareness of the diversity of minority women’s perspectives and personal experiences. IV. THEMATIC RECOMMENDATIONS 51. Access to education for minority girls may pose particular challenges, especially in highly patriarchal family and community structures where gendered societal roles persist. Lack of education represents an absolute barrier to their progress and empowerment in every region of the world. In some cases, where barriers to access are compounded for girls, sometimes owing to the prioritization given to the education of boys, this results in a vicious circle leading to severe educational exclusion and diminished opportunities for girls to take part fully in economic, social, cultural and political life. As a consequence, some minority girls and women excluded from education suffer from high illiteracy levels. 52. To warrant equal opportunity for women belonging to minorities, it is essential that they and their children be offered the opportunity, upon their request, to have access to education in their minority language, without impeding the high level acquisition of the official State language. 53. Ensuring equal access to education for women and girls from minority groups, upon whom poverty and family responsibilities may have a disproportionate impact, Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011 55 WOMEN AND GIRLS A. Minority women and girls and the right to education