A/HRC/FMI/2011/2 minority women’s issues are fully integrated into both women’s rights and minority rights discourses. V. Issues for consideration 15. At the fourth session, the Forum will focus on practical and concrete measures to guarantee the rights of minority women. It will be informed by and build on the work of the previous three sessions held by the Forum, relating to minorities and the right to education, effective political participation and effective participation in economic life. At these sessions, the Forum consistently highlighted the need to address discrimination against minority women specifically, as they are often confronted with multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination. The Forum will take account of the fact that a great variety of country and minority situations exist and that, consequently, different measures may be required to improve the participation of minority women, which can be deeply affected by the context in which they live. A. Right to education 16. At its first session, the Forum focused on minorities and the right to education. Access to education for minority girls may present 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. Ensuring equal access to education for women and girls from minority groups, upon whom poverty and family responsibilities may have a disproportionate impact, remains a considerable challenge. Internal factors, including cultural practices, early marriages and entrenched patriarchal structures and gender roles that, for example, restrict the free movement of girls and women, are important issues that create barriers to access to education for girls, which must be addressed. B. Effective political participation 17. At its second session, the Forum recommended, inter alia, that States should ensure that all mechanisms, procedures and institutions established to promote and increase the political participation of persons belonging to minorities take into account the specific needs of minority women. The political rights of women are established in, inter alia, article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, whereby women are guaranteed the rights to vote, to hold public office and to exercise public functions. Minorities often lack a say in national and local bodies responsible for policy, including in relation to economic life, national development and budgeting, and this is doubly the case for minority women. Consequently, the issues and situations of minority women may be neglected or not be given the priority that is required to achieve meaningful change. Minority women may face obstacles within their homes and in communities that deny them a role in decision-making. In society at large, they may in turn be denied a say in decisions of the national polity because they are women and because they are minorities. Ensuring effective political participation for minority women and their equal representation not only ensures their participation in decision-making on issues directly affecting them but 5