A/HRC/FMI/2011/2 also helps to ensure that society as a whole benefits from their contribution and truly reflects its diversity. C. Effective participation in economic, social and cultural life 18. The theme of the third session of the Forum was minorities and effective participation in economic life. Minority women are often excluded from the labour market or are at greater risk of unemployment. Barriers to minority women’s access to labour markets include lack of professional education and formal qualifications, limited knowledge of the official language, low awareness of job opportunities, geographical location of jobs distant from their place of residence, lack of public infrastructure for child care, and financial difficulties. Cultural traditions and gendered societal roles may further discourage the involvement of minority women in employment or severely limit their options in this regard. 19. Sex- and minority-based discrimination in hiring, promotion and pay also create significant barriers for minority women. Increasingly informal labour markets – a result of globalization – have brought more women into paid work, but often with low pay, excluded from basic labour protection and employed under poor working conditions. This renders the conditions under which minority women – and all too often young girls – earn incomes that may be insecure, difficult, harmful or even dangerous. Their workload can be made heavier by the lack of such basic amenities as clean water and sanitation, the availability of childcare support and protection against domestic and social violence. Minority girls and women in difficult circumstances are often forced to find survival opportunities outside their communities and home, and can easily fall victim to trafficking, exploitation and illegal migration within or outside their own country, which makes them even more vulnerable. 20. In some societies, minority women shoulder complex burdens of poverty, ethnic or religious prejudice and gender-based restrictions, which can frequently result in greater challenges to the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing. For instance, minority women in rural or remote areas in some countries may be confronted by a profound degree of isolation created by several different factors, including the boundaries of the home, lack of education and language barriers. Access to and use and management of land and property are central to women’s economic independence, social status and political influence, not only with regard to their own status but also to that of men in their community. Customary law used by minorities, as well as laws in general, may disadvantage minority women, and entrenched gender roles may 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 a wide range of reasons, such as war, men having been forced to flee or killed in a conflict, increased poverty and climate change have had the effect of loss of land and property, as well as putting minority women at risk of, inter alia, kidnapping, sexual exploitation, violence and HIV/AIDS. 21. Minority women may also face additional challenges in terms of access to reproductive health care. Indeed, several factors, including poverty, living in remote geographic areas where maternal health services are poor and/or inaccessible, and the lack of cultural awareness among maternal health practitioners, can greatly contribute to increasing maternal mortality among minority women. Minority women might have to deal with restrictions on their reproductive rights from within their own communities, including with regard to the use of contraception. The practice of early marriages in minority communities can have a significant impact on the health of women and their access to education or employment. Other discriminatory practices and policies in society in general include forced sterilization, used for some minority women because of their belonging to a particular minority group. 6