A/HRC/15/60 6. Recognizes that women’s inequality before the law has resulted in the lack of equal opportunities for women in education, access to health, economic participation and access to labour markets and disparities in, inter alia, salaries and compensation, public and political participation, access to decision-making processes, inheritance, ownership of land, financial services, including loans, and nationality and legal capacity, as well as increased vulnerability to discrimination and violence, and that all countries face challenges in these areas; 7. Acknowledges the work undertaken by the Commission on the Status of Women, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Special Rapporteurs of the Council on violence against women, its causes and consequences, on trafficking in persons, especially in women and children, and on contemporary forms of slavery and other relevant United Nations bodies, agencies and mechanisms to eliminate discrimination in law and in practice throughout the world; 8. Emphasizes the significant role that women play in economic development and in the eradication of poverty, and stresses the need for promoting equal pay for equal work or work of equal value and for promoting the recognition of the value of women’s unremunerated work, as well as for developing and promoting policies that facilitate the reconciliation of employment and family responsibilities; 9. Calls upon States to ensure full representation and full and equal participation of women in political, social and economic decision-making as an essential condition for gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and a critical factor in the eradication of poverty; 10. Welcomes, in particular, the work undertaken by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on women’s equality before the law; 11. Recognizes the important role played by the Council in addressing the issue of discrimination against women, both in law and in practice; 12. Welcomes the convening of a panel on equality before the law during the eleventh session of the Council; 13. Notes that, although human rights treaty bodies and special procedures do, to some extent, address discrimination against women within their mandates, their attention to such discrimination is not systematic; 14. Also notes the work undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the issue; 15. Takes note of the thematic study on discrimination against women, in law and in practice, and on how the issue is addressed throughout the United Nations human rights system, prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner;38 16. Welcomes the half-day panel discussion on discrimination against women in law and in practice; 17. Calls upon States to pay particular attention to discrimination against women in situations of vulnerability, such as women living in poverty, migrant women, women with disabilities and women belonging to minorities; 18. Decides to establish, for a period of three years, a working group of five independent experts, of balanced geographical representation, on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice, whose tasks will be: 38 60 A/HRC/15/40. GE.11-17043