A/HRC/43/73 (b) To increase efforts aimed at avoiding overlapping and/or the duplication of initiatives. C. 1. Challenges faced by women of African descent Conclusions 89. The Working Group: (a) Recalls that discrimination faced by women of African descent in many parts of the world is the clear outcome of, inter alia, systemic and structural racism and a global mindset that reflects the legacy of the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans; (b) Recognizes that women and girls of African descent face intersecting and multiple forms of discrimination and that a holistic approach should be used while countering the multiple forms of discrimination faced by women and girls of African descent; (c) Remains concerned about the fact that many women of African descent are disproportionately represented among persons living in poverty, as a result of lack of economic opportunities and autonomy and access to economic resources, including credit, landownership and inheritance, which force women into situations of vulnerability and exploitation; (d) Expresses concern that a high number of women and girls of African descent lack access to education, owing to obstacles to educational and academic achievement and practices that diminish the expectations of their teachers, and about the disproportionately high dropout rates among women and girls of African descent; (e) Condemns the inequality entrenched in education systems, which contain negative gender and racial stereotypes, contributing in many parts of the world to the low quality of the educational experiences of women and girls of African descent, and lack inclusion in their curricula of the histories and contributions of women of African descent in the formation of societies; (f) Remains concerned about the fact that, in many parts of the world, women and girls of African descent face discrimination in their enjoyment of the right to health, resulting in structural discriminatory patterns of ill-health, that women and girls of African descent do not have equal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, resulting in particular in their receiving low-quality prenatal care and higher maternal mortality and morbidity rates among those women, especially with regard to HIV infection and women living with HIV/AIDS becoming victims of stigmatization; (g) Considers that, in many parts of the world, women of African descent face intersecting forms of discrimination in employment, manifesting in high rates of unemployment, low wages, precarious working conditions and overrepresentation in domestic work; (h) Condemns the fact that, in many countries, women of African descent experience low levels of political participation and representation and of access to decision-making positions, as a result of structural discrimination, even when the political participation of women is regulated through quota laws, which do not take into account systemic inequalities faced by women of African descent; (i) Expresses concern about the fact that women and girls of African descent are often, to a disproportionate extent compared with other groups, victims of violence and harmful practices, such as homicide, domestic violence, sexual and gender-based violence and harassment, rape, sexual exploitation, abduction, trafficking, child marriage and female genital mutilation, which in some countries continue to prevail, given the narrow scope of interventions; 16