A/HRC/17/26 as well as civil, labour and political engagement rights. This violence is committed with the assistance of physical and ideological restrictions that prevent women from having the full capacity to exercise their rights. This is particularly true in societies in which women are either not defined as actors within civil, political or economic life, or are assigned a gendered position in these areas of public identity and engagement that are unequal to the positions held by male actors. By making violence against women a part of the analysis, a determination can be made of the extent to which women can enjoy their civil and political rights. 95. Social, economic and cultural factors can interfere with women’s ability to enjoy the full range of their civil and political rights, and can reinforce inter- and intra-gender hierarchies. Linking such factors to matters of violence against women exposes the societal ideologies which sanction violence as appropriate punishment for failing to abide by gender norms, and reveals how this undermines the realization of civil and political rights. 4. Women’s right to self-determination 96. Self-determination embodies the rights of individuals and peoples to make decisions about their economic, social, religious and familial well-being, and to honour the expressed desires of people and individuals to control their own affairs. Women within minority and marginalized groups, including indigenous women, are often denied their basic right to selfdetermination. This is further obscured by literature that demonstrates how elite and privileged women have gained these rights. In this way, self-determination is another area where the invisible hierarchy of women vis-à-vis other women masks the ongoing inequality experienced by many of the world’s women. 97. Women’s right to self-determination includes the ability to determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development. Any group or persons that infringe this right are perpetuating a form of structural violence against the disempowered group, and further marginalizing the rights of certain women within a given political context. Furthermore, marginalized groups, including indigenous peoples and minorities, often justify violence against women based on collective identity formed in opposition to the dominant and oppressing group. Indeed, “culture-based identity politics [are] a major challenge to the achievement of gender equality and the elimination of violence against women.”21 98. A contested terrain relating to women’s rights to self-determination includes for example the practice of one’s religion. All persons have a right to practice their right to freedom of religion or belief, and to hold their own religion or beliefs separate from their relationships to family and communities. Women are entitled to hold their own interpretations of religion or belief, distinct and separate from those of their spouses and kin, and they have a right to seek support from abuse and violence from members of their religious community. Women have a right to not participate in acts that go against their conscience, and they are entitled to the same public displays of religion or belief as male members of their community. Any institution or policy that prevents a woman from fully engaging with a religious or belief community is denying her basic human rights to her religion or belief and fulfilment of her own spiritual conscience. Women have a right to practise a religion or belief even if it is a minority religion or belief within their communities. No woman should be coerced to follow a religion or belief that is different from her choosing. These are basic civil rights that should be recognized not only by members of the household, kin-group or local community, but also by Governments. 21 20 A/HRC/4/34 (2007)