A/67/287 girls and women have equal access; whether sufficient support is given to events promoting women’s leisure activities and creative expressions such as song, dance, poetry and theatre; and whether female artists are well represented on radio and television and in cultural events. 80. The Special Rapporteur further recommends that States: (a) Abolish or modify laws and regulations, policies and programmes that are based on, apply or sustain negative or harmful gender stereotypes, including through legislative measures and social policies and information and educational programmes; (b) Adopt all measures necessary to eliminate gender stereotyping among State officials in all fields and at all levels, in particular those dealing with education, culture, sports and science, and ensure that women’s contributions to culture are fully reflected, especially in educational institutions, textbooks and curricula, in particular in the teaching of history; (c) Exercise due diligence with respect to any unequal treatment or discriminatory conduct by private actors, paying special attention to the role of cultural, religious and educational institutions as well as the media; (d) Take action against institutions, and non-State actors, that threaten women who critique harmful practices, claim their right to participate in cultural life or wish to leave a cultural community; (e) Ensure equal opportunities for girls and women to access, take part in and contribute to cultural activities and an equal share of State support, in particular in the fields of arts, sports and the sciences; (f) Make explicit reference to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in all normative and policy frameworks relating to cultural diversity and group-based rights (A/HRC/4/34, para. 72); (g) Withdraw all reservations to this Convention that have been entered with reference to culture, tradition, custom and/or religion (ibid.); (h) Ensure that diverse women’s voices within specific communities are heard and that their human rights are not sacrificed in the name of culture (ibid.); (i) Ensure that respect for cultural diversity does not translate into a pluralistic legal system allowing for customary laws, traditions or practices that contravene women’s human rights, including their cultural rights; (j) Ensure that when there are competing views regarding what constitutes cultural norms and practices, the role of arbiter is played by individuals or entities that uphold women’s equal rights; (k) Ensure the training of judges in the area of human rights law and gender, in particular to disallow any “cultural defences” of direct or indirect discrimination against women that adversely affects their right to take part in cultural life; (l) Enhance the participation of women, including through temporary special measures, in the legal professions and at all levels of the judiciary, as an 12-45930 23

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