A/68/290 headscarves, turbans, kippas or religious jewellery, such as a cross attached to a necklace. In many cases those restrictions particularly affect women from religious minorities. Although there may be reasons for imposing limitations for specific situations, the Special Rapporteur has noted that some of the measures taken in this regard fail to meet all the requirements of article 18, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant. For instance, laws prohibiting the Islamic headscarf in public institutions are frequently based on conjectures that women do not wear such head garments of their own free will. The empirical evidence for these conjectures often remains questionable. Moreover, if there are some clear cases of impositions, this experience will not necessarily suffice to justify general or broad prohibitions of the headscarf in public life or by users of such public institutions as schools, universities or public administration. 50. Under the principle of proportionality, States have always to look for less farreaching and less intrusive restrictions before issuing legislation that infringes on freedom of religion or belief. Another part of the proportionality test concerns the question of whether limitations are actually conducive to the legitimate purpose they are supposed to foster. It may happen that measures do not only fail to serve the said purpose; they may actually worsen the situation of many individuals, particularly women, for instance by further restricting their spaces of personal movement and infringing their rights to education and participation in public life. 3. Gender and sexuality in school education programmes 51. According to article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, every human being has the right to education. This has been confirmed in other important human rights documents, including in article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The right to education, inter alia, functions as an indispensable right for empowerment that facilitates the more effective use of many other human rights, such as freedom of expression, the right to work, participation in public life, cultural rights and freedom of religion or belief. In order to secure the right to education for everyone, States should make elementary school education mandatory, as requested by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 10 Given the fact that in many countries or regions the right to education continues to be denied for girls and women, this provision has a particular significance for them. 52. To realize its potential for empowerment, education must also cover human rights education, which necessarily includes the two human rights norms under discussion here. Indeed, education plays a crucial role in all policies for eliminating stereotypical gender roles and ideas of inequality of men and women, and it is important to educate individuals about sexual and reproductive health issues and their human rights in this regard. Likewise, education is of great significance in policies for combating discrimination based on religion or belief by critically addressing existing stereotypes and prejudices in this field. The voices of women, __________________ 10 14/22 See Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights, General Comment No. 11 (1999), E/C.12/1999/4, paras. 1 and 6; and General Comment No. 13 (1999), E/C.12/1999/10, paras. 10 and 51; and Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 7 (2005), CRC/C/GC/7/Rev.1, para. 28. 13-42191