A/HRC/44/40/Add.2 era, the Government should initiate a far-reaching inquiry designed to reduce unnecessary red tape and transform bureaucratic practices in the field of social protection. Such a review could be undertaken by an expert group appointed for the purpose or by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility. The goals should include reducing bureaucratic hurdles, streamlining application processes, digitizing data with due regard for human rights, facilitating municipal registration and ensuring that people are aware of the benefits to which they are entitled. IV. Poverty among specific groups 55. Becoming a leader in social rights also requires paying attention to the disproportionate impact of poverty on select groups, including the following. A. Women 56. Compared to men, women in Spain have higher rates of relative poverty, severe material deprivation, low intensity of employment and severe poverty. They are worse off on nearly all labour market indicators.83 57. Royal Decree-Law No. 6/2019 introduced some measures to ensure equal treatment and opportunities in employment, but many challenges remain. 84 In 2019, Spain had the second highest rate of female unemployment in the European Union by a significant margin.85 Unpaid care work takes a toll on women’s incomes: 47 per cent of women who work part-time do so for reasons of childcare, compared to 7 per cent of men. Twenty-three per cent of women with children are unemployed, a full 10 percentage points higher than among men.86 58. Gender-based violence is also a cause of poverty. Multiple women explained the economic hardship they faced after leaving abusive relationships, including one woman who was unable to access social assistance because she had fled to another autonomous community and had not yet met the one-year residency threshold. According to one report in 2019, 61.2 per cent of the women surveyed who were victims of gender-based violence were unemployed and an additional 6.9 per cent were working without contracts. 87 59. Low spending on social assistance for families and children is especially harmful for women. Eighty-two per cent of single-parent households are headed by a woman and half of those were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2018, up from 45 per cent in 2008. 88 Within that group, 53.5 per cent could not handle an unforeseen expense and 17.4 had fallen behind on paying the cost of housing or utilities as of 2018. 89 Extending early childhood education to children aged between 0 and 3 and developing affordable afterschool services for school-age children can help parents, and especially mothers, maintain employment. The share of school-age children covered by after-school services stands at 8 per cent, well below the OECD average of 29 per cent. 90 60. While government officials explained a range of policies designed to promote gender equality, there was a notable absence of attention to the deep economic structures that perpetuate inequality. Greater attention should be given to the economics of unpaid care work and ways to compensate and replace it. Despite the central importance of 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 European Anti-Poverty Network, “Poverty watch Spain 2019”, pp. 13–14. Agencia Estatal Boletín Oficial del Estado, “Real Decreto-ley 6/2019, de 1 de marzo, de medidas urgentes para garantía de la igualdad de trato y de oportunidades entre mujeres y hombres en el empleo y la ocupación”; Solidar, Social Rights Monitor 2019, p. 102. Eurostat, “Unemployment by sex and age - monthly average”. Save the Children “The future we want to grow up in”, p. 7. Fundación Adecco, “Un empleo contra la violencia” (November 2019), p. 15. European Anti-Poverty Network, “Poverty watch Spain 2019,” p. 18; National Institute of Statistics, “Risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE indicator), by type of household”. National Institute of Statistics, “Households with material deprivation, by type of household”. OECD, Economic Surveys: Spain (November 2018), pp. 51 and 54. 13