A/HRC/19/56 every region of the world. In some cases, where barriers to access are compounded for girls, sometimes owing to the prioritization given to the education of boys, this results in a vicious circle leading to severe educational exclusion and diminished opportunities for girls to take part fully in economic, social, cultural and political life. As a consequence, some minority girls and women excluded from education suffer from high illiteracy levels. 72. Ensuring equal access to education for women and girls from minority groups, upon whom poverty and family responsibilities may have a disproportionate impact, remains a considerable challenge. Internal factors, including cultural practices, early marriages and entrenched patriarchal structures and gender roles that, for example, restrict the free movement of girls and women, are important issues that create barriers to access to education for girls, which must be addressed. 73. At its second session, the Forum recommended, inter alia, that States should ensure that all mechanisms, procedures and institutions established to promote and increase the political participation of persons belonging to minorities take into account the specific needs of minority women. The political rights of women are established in, inter alia, article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, whereby women are guaranteed the rights to vote, to hold public office and to exercise public functions. Minorities often lack a say in national and local bodies responsible for policy, including in relation to economic life, national development and budgeting, and this is doubly the case for minority women. Consequently, the issues and situations of minority women may be neglected or not be given the priority that is required to achieve meaningful change. 74. Minority women may face obstacles within their homes and in communities that deny them a role in decision-making. In society at large, they may in turn be denied a say in decisions of the national polity because they are women and because they are minorities. Ensuring effective political participation for minority women and their equal representation not only ensures their participation in decision-making on issues directly affecting them but also helps to ensure that society as a whole benefits from their contribution and truly reflects its diversity. 75. 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. 76. 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. 77. 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 18