A/HRC/11/6 page 11 32. Neoliberal policies have also reduced the State’s capacity to regulate and tax capital, resulting in an enforcement problem,13 with regard to both property rights and contracts, and the withdrawal of public services and social security provisions. Under such circumstances, a return to community-based enforcement and survival strategies - based largely on women’s initiatives have become essential. One outcome of the communal/“tribalizing” tendencies was the strengthened role of culture/religion based non-State actors in determining identity politics, often based on conservative/fundamentalist ideals, and in providing services to impoverished groups. These trends have posed new challenges for the universal application of human rights norms, in particular, women’s claims for rights and equality.14 33. Ironically, the current financial crisis presents a crucial opportunity for governments and international institutions to invest in public services and infrastructure to create jobs, improve productivity and revive economic demand. Such investment, if planned well, has the potential to expand women’s economic opportunities and employment and their access to a wide range of other entitlements. Studies show that women’s economic participation and incomes contribute significantly to overall economic development and societal well-being; their presence in financial and administrative institutions is associated with decreases in corruption;15 they tend towards less risky investments and receive better returns on their investments than men.16 34. The third element of the political economy approach to women’s rights is related to the gendered dimensions of war and peace, which are intimately connected to patriarchy and the differential gender impacts of globalization. Violent conflict, often related to control over power and productive resources, normalizes violence and spreads it throughout society. Both State and group-sanctioned violence frequently celebrates masculine aggression and perpetuates impunity 13 Ertürk, Korkut, “Globalization and social fragmentation: Towards a post-Walrasian Insight”. Paper prepared for Expert Consultation, Economics MA Program Friday Seminars, 14 December 2007 Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey 2008. 14 This is a complex phenomenon, certain aspects of which were addressed in my 2007 report on “intersections between culture and violence against women” (A/HRC/4/34). See also the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) study based on the responses of more than 1,600 women’s rights activists globally (Religious Fundamentalisms Exposed: Ten myths revealed about religious fundamentalisms, AWID, Toronto, 2008, available at http://www.awid.org/eng/About-AWID/AWID-News/Ten-myths-about-religiousfundamentalisms). 15 See Coleman, Isobel, “The payoff from women’s rights”, Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 3 May/June 2004, pp. 80-95. 16 Barber, Brad M. and Odean, Terence, “Boys will be boys: Gender, overconfidence, and common stock investment”, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 116, No. 1 (2001), pp. 261-292.