A/HRC/29/31 D. Discrimination and inequalities 24. Vertical and horizontal inequalities, including economic inequalities, are often closely related to discrimination. In many countries, the poorest sector of the population coincides with social and ethnic groups that experience discrimination. It is therefore possible that levels of economic inequality in many countries would be lower today in the absence of discrimination.40 When dealing with economic inequalities, we should therefore pay specific attention to the overlap between economic inequalities and group-based inequalities (horizontal inequalities), because they can indicate discrimination as an important cause of inequality. 41 As Mr. Stiglitz has written: “One of the most invidious — and hardest to eradicate — sources of inequality is discrimination, both ongoing discrimination and the legacy of past discrimination.”42 25. Although many forms of discrimination are inherently unjust, the correlation between gender-based discrimination and economic inequalities deserves special mention since it potentially affects half of the world’s population. While both men and women may experience myriad inequalities, based on factors such as their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation or disability, gender-based discrimination is too often seen to be almost exclusively a women’s problem. In its World Development Report 2012, the World Bank describes the forms of discrimination that still exist in many countries and that directly affect economic inequality between men and women. According to the World Bank, men and women still have different ownership rights in at least nine countries, and in many countries, women and girls still have fewer inheritance rights than men and boys. 43 In addition, women continue to fare badly in the labour market generally. A stocktaking by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) shows that almost 80 countries maintain restrictions on the types of work that women are permitted to undertake. Also according to UN-Women, at the global level, women’s labour force participation rates have stagnated since the 1990s. Currently, only half of women are in the labour force compared to more than three quarters of men. Despite considerable regional variations, nowhere has this gender gap been eliminated: globally, women earn on average 24 per cent less than men. In one study of four countries, lifetime income gaps between women and men were estimated to be between 31 and 75 per cent.44 E. Detrimental effects of economic inequalities on the enjoyment of human rights 26. It is clear that economic inequalities severely affect a range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. 27. Economic inequalities can threaten the right to life, liberty and security of the person. A 2009 study using data from 162 countries for the years 1980–2004 found robust 40 41 42 43 44 10 “One interpretation of these findings is that between-group differences account for, and possibly explain, a non-negligible portion of overall inequality.” See World Bank, World Development Report 2006, p. 43. “The issue has particular salience when it involves groups, as the influence of social norms and discrimination come to the fore, and the arguments that outcomes may reflect choice have less purchase.” See Claire Melamed and Emma Samman, “Equity, inequality, and human development in a post-2015 framework” (UNDP, 2013), p. 3. Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality. World Bank, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development, p. 159. See United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Progress of the World’s Women 2015–2016: Transforming Economies, Realizing Rights (2015), p. 71.