stories or knowledge and skills held within the community. This can improve community engagement in education, create valuable inter-cultural exchange, and make children from these linguistic groups feel an equal part of the education system. In Morocco, for example, the government has invested resources in teaching and documenting the Amazigh language, which was previously unused in schools but has been integrated into the curriculum since 2003. National curricula could be amended to include more opportunities for inter-cultural education. Recruitment of teachers from minority groups could help with language barriers and intercultural understanding. Minority groups may also wish to establish education that promotes and develops their culture and livelihoods.21 All of these steps may help to prevent parents from withdrawing their children from formal education where they are seen to be discriminated against or gaining no culturally relevant knowledge. In both the short and long-term, this is the best means of achieving universal primary education. Key Messages  Minority girls and women experience intersecting forms of discrimination  Cultural factors can play a role in access to education for minority girls MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women The promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women is a cross cutting issue that affects each of the MDGs. Moreover, some women face multiple forms of discrimination. The Human Development Report 2003 on the MDGs highlights just how far minority women are from achieving the MDGs. When asking ‘who is being left behind?’ the Report noted that: Income disparities appear to be increasing in several countries, indicating wider gaps between people…at the bottom (mostly rural, femaleheaded households of indigenous or ethnically marginal descent) (UNDP 2003, p. 47-49). Eliminating gender disparity in access to education is more difficult for minority girls and women. This is because of the compound impact of discrimination based on gender and on ethnic, religious or linguistic identity. This phenomenon is known as ‘intersectionality’, whereby “multiple discriminations do not operate independently but intersect and reinforce each other with cumulative adverse consequences for the enjoyment of human rights” (Banda and Chinkin 2004, p. 11). The challenge for those working to eliminate gender disparities is to ensure that other forms of discrimination do not become invisible in these policy prescriptions. Minority girls face particular barriers that others will not. For example, minority girls may find it more difficult to integrate into schools because of language barriers and may have less family support for their education because parents (especially mothers) may also lack the necessary language skills to assist their children. There may be particular cultural norms in relation to the role of women and girls in some minority communities that restrict their opportunities for education, such as early marriage. Opportunities for minority girls to access education are also closely linked to higher poverty rates of minorities, with minority girl children being more likely to remain at home to support the family’s welfare. Therefore, familial opportunities to overcome poverty may be seen as integral to achieving gender equality in access to education for minorities. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has said in General Comment 13 that education should be culturally appropriate in both its form and substance, including curricula and teaching methods. CESCR, General Comment No.13, The Right to Education, UN Doc. E/C.12/1999/10, para. 6. 21 Chapter 4: Minorities in Development 41