CEDAW/C/GC/34 rural women’s burden of unpaid care work, facilitating their engagement in paid work, and allowing them to breastfeed during working hours; (i) Designing and implementing targeted measures to promote the employment of rural women in their localities, in particular through the creation of income-generating activities. F. Political and public life (art. 14, paras. 2 (a) and 2 (f), read alongside art. 7) 53. Rural women have a right to participate in decision-making at all levels and in community-level discussions with high authorities, yet they are inadequately represented as elected officials, as civil servants, in rural extension and water, forestry or fishery services, in cooperatives and in community or elders ’ councils. Their limited participation may be due to a lack of education, language and literacy constraints, limited mobility and transport, conflict and security concerns, discriminatory gender norms and stereotypes and a lack of time owing to childcare, the task of fetching water and other responsibilities. Limited knowledge of relevant legal, political and institutional procedures may also limit their effective participation in decision-making processes. 54. To ensure the active, free, effective, meaningful and informed participation of rural women in political and public life, and at all levels of decision-making, States parties should implement general recommendations Nos. 23 and 25, and specifically: (a) Establish quotas and targets for rural women’s representation in decision-making positions, specifically in parliaments and governance bodies at all levels, including in land, forestry, fishery and water governance bodies, as well as natural resource management. In this regard, clear objectives and time frames should be in place to reach substantive equality of women and men; (b) Ensure that rural women and their organizations can influence policy formulation, implementation and monitoring at all levels and in all areas that affect them, including through participation in political parties and in local and self-governing bodies, such as community and village councils. States parties should design and implement tools to monitor rural women’s participation in all public entities in order to eradicate discrimination; (c) Address unequal power relations between women and men, including in decision-making and political processes at the community level, and remove barriers to rural women’s participation in community life through the establishment of effective and gender-responsive rural decision-making structures. States parties should develop action plans that address practical barriers to rural women’s participation in community life and implement campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of their participation in community decision-making; (d) Ensure the participation of rural women in the development and implementation of all agricultural and rural development strategies, and that they are able to participate effectively in planning and decision-making relating to rural infrastructure and services, including water, sanitation, transportation and energy, as well as in agricultural cooperatives, farmers’ producer 16/25 16-03601