A/HRC/38/24 which lie at the heart of gender-based discrimination and violence against women — a gender-transformative approach. Inequalities between women and men have persisted throughout history and in all regions of the world.7 Gender-based violence against women is one of the most significant manifestations of discrimination against women, 8 as it is one of the fundamental social, political and economic means by which the subordinate position of women with respect to men and their stereotyped roles are perpetuated. 9 Changing these dynamics requires recognition that men and boys play a role not only in perpetrating such violence, but also as community members who need to support more equal power relations. 6. It is acknowledged in the preamble (para. 14) to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women that a change in the traditional role of men as well as the role of women in society and in the family is needed to achieve full equality between men and women. Article 5 (a) of the Convention places a legal obligation on States parties to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices that are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women as one of the means to eliminate discrimination against women. The Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women also observed that the root causes of gender-based violence against women included the ideology of men’s entitlement and privilege over women, social norms regarding masculinity, the need to assert male control or power, enforce gender roles, or prevent, discourage or punish what was considered to be unacceptable female behaviour10 and the need to transform them. 7. Engaging men and boys as partners in the effort to bring about gender equality holds the potential to engage them in resisting and rejecting harmful masculinity, misogyny and discriminatory gender roles, which is key for the achievement of gender equality and the elimination of gender-based violence.11 Such engagement should recognize that men and boys interface with the implications of gender inequality from different positions. They can be perpetrators of discrimination against women and gender-based violence, agents for change, or victims/witnesses of violence — including violence against children. Men and boys can also be victims of gender-based violence, including sexual violence, in various contexts. Perpetration of such violence is deeply intertwined with the same discriminatory gender norms that cause gender-based violence against women and girls. Likewise, men 7 8 9 10 11 4 The World Economic Forum (The Global Gender Gap Report 2017 (Geneva, 2017), pp. v–viii) indicates that the global gender gap of an average 32 per cent remains to be closed across the four dimensions of the Index (education, health, economic participation and political empowerment) in order to achieve universal gender parity. In 2017, the global gender gap saw the first reverse trend since 2006, indicating that the overall global gender gap would take 100 years to close, compared with 83 years in 2016. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19, para. 1. Ibid., para. 10. See also the eleventh preambular paragraph of Human Rights Council resolution 35/10. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, general recommendation No. 35, para. 19. The Committee on the Rights of the Child was a pioneer in recognizing that men and boys must be actively encouraged as strategic partners and allies, and along with women and girls, must be provided with opportunities to increase their respect for one another and their understanding of how to stop gender discrimination and its violent manifestations (see its general comment No. 13 (2011) on the right of the child to freedom from all forms of violence, para. 72 (b)). In the context of harmful practices, both the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women stressed the need to empower girls and women and boys and men to contribute to the transformation of traditional cultural attitudes that condone harmful practices, act as agents of such change and strengthen the capacity of communities to support such processes (see joint general recommendation No. 31 of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women/general comment No. 18 of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2014) on harmful practices, para. 17).