CEDAW/C/GC/36 37. The monetization of access, through user fees, forces poor parents to choose which of their children to send to school, and they often show a preference for educating boys over girls. They decide on the basis of what they believe will be the maximum economic benefit to the family, over the long term, of their educational investment. Because of entrenched gender inequality, labour markets generally favour men. Parents therefore conclude that it is better to educate boys, who are able to gain access to better employment opportunities after their schooling. Parents’ choices are also influenced by stereotypes that place girls in the domestic sphere. 38. In the context of economic crises, many States parties make cuts to social services, and education is outsourced to private entities, as well as provided by non-State organizations such as religious or community groups or non -governmental organizations. It has been established that privatization has specific nega tive consequences for girls and women, and in particular girls from poorer families, namely, their exclusion from education. 39. The Committee recommends that States parties take all measures to ensure that user fees and hidden costs do not have a negative impact on girls’ and women’s access to education by instituting the following measures: (a) Universal, free and compulsory education from preschool to secondary school, regardless of socioeconomic status, for citizens of the State party, as well as for girls and women with migrant or refugee status; (b) Affordable education at the tertiary level, by reducing user fees and indirect and opportunity costs; (c) Introduction of social safety nets and other measures to ensure that girls and women from lower socioeconomic strata are not denied access to any level of education on the basis of their inability to pay user fees or meet hidden costs; (d) Ensuring that private actors respect the same standards regarding non-discrimination of girls and women as do public institutions, as a condition of their running academic institutions; (e) Campaigns targeting parents and the wider society to overcome male preference where education is concerned and recognize the value of educating girls. Disadvantaged groups of girls and women 40. Many girls and women are excluded from education and are marginalized because they are simultaneously exposed to the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination, as well as owing to lack of relevance of the curriculum, teaching conducted only in the majority language, exposure to violence, stigma or poverty. Such disadvantaged or vulnerable groups include the following. Students from ethnic minority groups and indigenous groups 41. The majority of girls not in primary school belong to ethnic minority groups and other excluded groups. The main factors having an impact on the access of those groups to education include poverty, discrimination, lack of cultural relevance and, often, instruction delivered only in the dominant language, resulting in lower educational achievement, higher dropout rates, loss of heritage languages and lower self-esteem. 10/23 17-19774