CEDAW/C/GC/29 Millennium Development Goals also refer to equality in the family as a fundamental principle. c 8. The Committee has consistently concluded that the elimination of discrimination against women requires States parties to provide for substantive as well as formal equality. Formal equality may be achieved by adopting gender-neutral laws and policies, which on their face treat women and men equally. Substantive equality can be achieved only when the States parties examine the application and effects of laws and policies and ensure that they provide for equality in fact, accounting for women’s disadvantage or exclusion. In respect of the economic dimensions of family relations, a substantive equality approach must address matters such as discrimination in education and employment, the compatibility of work requirements and family needs, and the impact of gender stereotypes and gender roles on women’s economic capacity. 9. The present general recommendation will serve as a guide for States parties in achieving a de jure and de facto egalitarian regime under which the economic benefits and costs of family relations and the economic consequences of their dissolution are borne equally by men and women. It will establish the norm for evaluating implementation by States parties of the Convention with respect to economic equality in the family. III. Constitutional and legal framework 10. The constitutions or legal frameworks of a number of States parties still provide that personal status laws (relating to marriage, divorce, distribution of marital property, inheritance, guardianship, adoption and other such matters) are exempt from constitutional provisions prohibiting discrimination or reserve matters of personal status to the ethnic and religious communities within the State party to determine. In such cases, constitutional equal protection provisions and anti-discrimination provisions do not protect women from the discriminatory effects of marriage under customary practices and religious laws. Some States parties have adopted constitutions that include equal protection and non-discrimination provisions but have not revised or adopted legislation to eliminate the discriminatory aspects of their family law regimes, whether they are regulated by civil code, religious law, ethnic custom or any combination of laws and practices. All these constitutional and legal frameworks are discriminatory, in violation of article 2 in conjunction with articles 5, 15 and 16 of the Convention. 11. States parties should guarantee equality between women and men in their constitutions and should eliminate any constitutional exemptions that would serve to protect or preserve discriminatory laws and practices with regard to family relations. Multiple family law systems 12. Some States parties have multiple legal systems in which different personal status laws apply to individuals on the basis of identity factors such as ethnicity or religion. Some, but not all, of these States parties also have a civil legal code that may apply in prescribed circumstances or by choice of the parties. In some States, however, individuals may have no choice as to the application of identity-based personal status laws. 13. The extent to which individuals are free to choose their religious or customary adherence and practice varies, as does their freedom to challenge the discrimination against women enshrined in the laws and customs of their State or community. c See resolution 55/2; see also the Millennium Project, Goal 3, available from http://www.unmillenniumproject. org/goals/index.htm. 3