CEDAW/C/GC/34
diseases; healthy lifestyles and nutrition; family planning and the benefits of
delayed childbearing; health during pregnancy; breastfeeding and its impact
on child and maternal health; and the need to eliminate violence against
women, including sexual and domestic violence and harmful practices;
(g) The effective regulation of the marketing of breast-milk substitutes
and the implementation and monitoring of the International Code of Marketing
of Breast-milk Substitutes;
(h) The gender-responsive and culturally responsive training of
community health workers and traditional birth attendants, the provision of
mobile clinics providing affordable health services in remote rural areas, and
enhanced health education for rural communities, including education on the
sexual and reproductive health and rights of both women and men;
(i) Investment in community and microhealth insurance schemes to
support rural women, including caregivers, in meeting their health needs.
C.
Economic and social life (art. 14, para. 2 (c), read alongside art. 11,
paras. 1 (e) and 2 (b), and art. 13 (a))
40. Article 14, paragraph 2 (c), provides that States parties shall ensure that rural
women benefit directly from social security program mes. However, a majority of
rural women have limited opportunities in the formal labour market and are more
likely to be engaged in activities not regulated by labour codes and social security
legislation linked with formal employment. They are therefore e xposed to increased
risks and need measures of social protection that take their situation into account.
41. To eliminate discrimination against rural women in economic and social
life, States parties should:
(a) Ensure that rural women engaged in unpaid work or in the informal
sector have access to non-contributory social protection in line with general
recommendation No. 16 (1991) on unpaid women workers in rural and urban
family enterprises, and that those employed in the formal sector have access to
contributory social security benefits in their own right, irrespective of their
marital status;
(b) Adopt gender-responsive social protection floors to ensure that all
rural women have access to essential health care, childcare facilities and
income security, in line with article 14, paragraphs 2 (b) and (h), and Social
Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202) of the International Labour
Organization.
D.
Education (art. 14, para. 2 (d), read alongside art. 10 (a))
42. Worldwide, rural women and girls have lower levels of literacy and are
disadvantaged when it comes to access to education and training. Rural girls may be
victims of child and/or forced marriage and experience sexual harassment and
violence in and out of educational settings, which may force them to drop out of
school. Their school attendance is also often curtailed by chores, such as domestic
and care work, including cooking, childcare, farm work and fetching water and
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