A/HRC/43/42 some employers discriminate against women with albinism based on the prejudice that persons with albinism cannot work effectively or are less capable of working than their peers.80 Some employers reportedly do not want to hire women with albinism because they are concerned that they might scare away potential customers due to their colouring and appearance.81 In some cases, both employers and employees express resistance to working with someone with albinism due to prejudices about albinism. 82 64. Many women with albinism who pursue their own businesses as entrepreneurs face discrimination, as potential customers refuse to enter into transactions with a person with albinism.83 This is particularly the case in regions where albinism is hypervisible. Pursuing business interests is problematic for women with albinism living in poverty as they often have difficulty accessing loans because many are uneducated and lack the necessary capital or assets to serve as the collateral security required for loan applications. 84 Women with albinism also face difficulties in accessing community initiatives on financial savings and loans due to prevailing stigma and discrimination, as well as myths that persons with albinism disappear and will not therefore pay money back to the community lender. 85 65. Economic empowerment initiatives supporting women with albinism and mothers of children with albinism are particularly limited. Initiatives supporting persons with albinism continue to be modelled on acts of charity and not designed from a human rights-based perspective. This perception limits strategic interventions from women with albinism and mothers of children with albinism that could positively transform these initiatives into true access, enabling those women to benefit from available economic opportunities. Thus, women with albinism rarely exercise autonomous decisions in programmes designed to support them and do not have co-ownership of the process in a meaningful way. 66. Women with albinism reportedly do not benefit from or are unaware of economic initiatives designed to support women with disabilities in general. For example, the Uwezo Fund in Kenya is an initiative aimed at enabling women with disabilities to access finances to promote business ventures and enterprises at the community level. 86 However, one submission from Kenya indicated that it was unclear whether women with albinism were fully benefiting from the fund. 67. Several countries have adopted affirmative action measures in order to specifically provide persons with disabilities with economic empowerment opportunities, but such measures are not fully implemented and often do not include persons with albinism or women with albinism. For example, in Argentina, public agencies at the municipal, provincial and national levels have a 4 per cent employment quota for persons with disabilities.87 However, that quota is not strictly adhered to. Similarly, in Chile, a law exists which obliges all companies to ensure that 1 per cent of their employees are persons with disabilities. 88 However, employers reportedly do not consider albinism a disability, and hence women with albinism are often excluded from this benefit. 7. Sexual violence and harmful practices 68. Data on sexual violence that specifically targets women and girls with albinism are not available globally. However, some of the submissions received refer to cases in which fetishization of albinism has resulted in sexual violence against women and children. 89 In addition, rape of women and girls with albinism based on the myth that having sex with a 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 Submissions from Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’ Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Submissions from Ghana, Spain and Uganda. Submission from Zimbabwe. Submissions from Nigeria and Uganda. Submissions from Eswatini and Kenya. Submission from Eswatini. Submission from Kenya (Government). Submission from Argentina. Submission from Chile. Submissions from Eswatini, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. 13