PART SIX: PROMOTING DIVERSITY AND EQUALITY: OBLIGATIONS TO ADDRESS THE ROOT CAUSES OF DISCRIMINATION other means of eliminating barriers between races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen racial division”. Article 5 (a) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women requires that States take “all appropriate measures … to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices”, stereotypes and notions of superiority or inferiority of the sexes. In its jurisprudence concerning gender-based violence against women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has found States in violation of these obligations.1226 CHARTING THE LINK BETWEEN SOCIAL FORCES AND DISCRIMINATION: THE CONVENTION ON THE ELIMINATION OF ALL FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST WOMEN Early recognition of the link between negative social norms and discrimination can be found in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which places a strong emphasis on changing the social roles of women and men as a necessary means to achieving gender equality. As highlighted by OHCHR in its introduction to the Convention explains: The Convention aims at enlarging our understanding of the concept of human rights, as it gives formal recognition to the influence of culture and tradition on restricting women’s enjoyment of their fundamental rights. These forces take shape in stereotypes, customs and norms which give rise to the multitude of legal, political and economic constraints on the advancement of women. Noting this interrelationship, the preamble of the Convention stresses “that a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality of men and women”. States parties are therefore obliged to work towards the modification of social and cultural patterns of individual conduct in order to eliminate “prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women” (article 5). And article 10.c. mandates the revision of textbooks, school programmes and teaching methods with a view to eliminating stereotyped concepts in the field of education. Finally, cultural patterns which define the public realm as a man’s world and the domestic sphere as women’s domain are strongly targeted in all of the Convention’s provisions that affirm the equal responsibilities of both sexes in family life and their equal rights with regard to education and employment. Altogether, the Convention provides a comprehensive framework for challenging the various forces that have created and sustained discrimination based upon sex.1227 PART SIX The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities contains a number of provisions focused on combating prejudice, stereotypes and other drivers of discrimination. Article 24 of the Convention, which establishes the right to lifelong inclusive education, provides that education should be “directed to … the full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity”. Article 8 elaborates States’ awareness-raising obligations under the Convention, including a specific obligation to “combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life”.1228 As noted by the Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities: The Convention embraces differences between human beings and underlines the importance of taking the diversity of the human experience into account. Society has traditionally ignored or discounted the difference of disability and thus societal structures have not considered the rights of persons with disabilities. The Convention restores the importance of the human being in the human rights discourse by emphasizing the individual and social aspects of the human experience. In that way, 1226 See, inter alia, Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, A.T. v. Hungary, communication No. 2/2003. 1227 See www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-elimination-all-forms-discrimination-against-women. 1228 A/HRC/43/27, para. 2. 193