IV • Guaranteeing the rights of minority women and girls land and property are central to women’s economic independence, social status and political influence. Existing legislation and practices may, however, disadvantage minority women, while entrenched gender roles leave them highly vulnerable, particularly with regard to ownership of land or property, inheritance rights and access to credit, technology or markets. Displacement as a result of any of a wide range of reasons, such as war, men having been forced to flee or killed in a conflict, increased poverty and climate change may also render minority women more vulnerable to such issues as kidnapping, sexual exploitation, violence and HIV/AIDS. 1. National, regional and local governments 82. Governments should take steps to redress imbalances in the representation and participation of minority women in employment and access to labour markets, economic progress and development. Such measures should be implemented in particular in the fields of employment, credit and other financial services, land tenure and property rights and social security. 84. Governments should lead by example and aim at achieving better representation of minorities, including women, and encourage the recruitment and retention of minority women in public employment, the civil service, law enforcement bodies, social services and other administrative bodies, including in senior positions. Equally, private sector employers should be required by Governments to comply fully with non-discrimination legislation, including on the grounds of ethnicity and gender, and should be encouraged to ensure that minority women have equal opportunities for recruitment and promotion. 85. Governments should take concrete measures aimed at enabling minority women to express their views and to take well-informed decisions, in order to guarantee their effective participation in economic and social policy at the national level and in regional or local economic and social policy decision-making. This could include creating women’s committees in areas where minority communities live, conducting sensitization and awareness-raising programmes, as well as developing the skills of minority women so that they become not only economically independent but also leaders. Governments should also involve minority men and leaders in programmes and workshops in order to achieve a change in traditional perceptions and practices and to eradicate discrimination against minority women from within Compilation of Recommendations of the First Four Sessions 2008 to 2011 61 WOMEN AND GIRLS 83. Minority women frequently find themselves confined to specific low-skill, low-status and low-paid sectors of employment. Governments should therefore allocate resources to expand the employment opportunities available to minority women, including through education, literacy (including in minority languages), vocational training (including skills to run small businesses), credit and market access so that they can realize their economic rights, and both seek and create new forms of employment within and beyond their communities.