A/HRC/22/24 B. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women 25. On 28 October 2010, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women adopted its general recommendation No. 27 (2010) on older women and protection of their human rights. Issues related to access to education, social pensions and adequate housing, as well as consent in relation to health or the right, to inherit are addressed in this recommendation and compel States parties to address multiple discrimination against older women. The Committee highlights, in paragraph 12: Concrete forms of discrimination against older women may differ considerably under various socio-economic circumstances and in sociocultural environments, depending on the equality of opportunities and choices regarding education, work, health, family and private life. In many countries the lack of telecommunication skills, access to adequate housing, social services and the Internet, loneliness and isolation pose problems for older women. Older women living in rural areas or urban slums often suffer a severe lack of basic resources for subsistence, income security, access to health care and information on and enjoyment of their entitlements and rights. 26. It further discusses different types of discrimination that older women face. Women are less present in the formal sectors of employment and tend to be paid less for the same work or work of equal value. According to the Committee, such gender-based discrimination throughout a woman’s life has a cumulative effect in old age, leading to disproportionally low incomes and low pensions compared to men or even no pension. 27. During its review of State reports at its forty-eighth session, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women made a number of recommendations on women’s rights related to housing, land and property issues, including on forced evictions and house demolitions (Israel); the concept of “head of household” in administrative practice and the need for recognition of joint or co-ownership of land (Sri Lanka); and failures of slum-upgrading programmes to systematically address the needs of poor urban women (Kenya). 28. Women’s economic, social and cultural rights were also addressed by the Committee in the context of their competence to consider individual communications under the Optional Protocol to the Convention. In R.K.B. v. Turkey (communication No. 28/2010), the Committee in its Views on the case on 24 February 2012 ruled that the Turkish courts based their decisions on gender stereotypes, tolerating allegations of extramarital relationships by male employees but not by female employees. The Committee decided that the State had failed to adopt adequate measures to eradicate wrongful female stereotypes in relation to the right to work and to equality of treatment in respect of work, thus violating articles 5 (a) and 11, paragraph 1 (a) and (d) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. The Committee decided that adequate compensation should be paid to the author; that the State should take measures to implement laws on gender equality in the work environment; and that the State should provide training to judges, lawyers and law enforcement personnel on women’s rights and gender-based stereotypes. 29. On 10 August 2011, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women issued a landmark decision for women around the world, with its Views adopted on 30 November 2007 on the case of Pimentel v. Brazil (communication No. 17/2008) – the first case decided on maternal mortality, concerning the death of an Afro-Brazilian lowincome woman for lack of adequate maternal health care. The Committee found violations of the rights to health and judicial protection, referring to the State party’s obligation to regulate the activities of private health-service providers. The Views also include reflections on why lack of access to adequate maternal-health services constitutes 8