A/HRC/30/70 58. In sharing a number of good practices to address those barriers at the national level, States highlighted the adoption of national action plans, policies and legislation to foster women’s leadership and in support of gender parity. That included legal provisions in the constitution and additional legislation to implement effectively the principle of gender equality, legally binding quotas for women’s representation in public (e.g. electoral lists) and private leadership positions (e.g. company boards) and linking State funding for political parties to a minimum percentage of women representatives. 59. States also discussed good practices at the international level, such as the organization of high-level events, initiatives, programmes and regional frameworks. This included calls by several speakers for centrality of gender equality, and gender perspective as a crosscutting issue, in the post-2015 development agenda and for renewed commitment to this important issue, including strengthening efforts to consistently mainstream women’s rights in the Human Rights Council. 60. The need for greater involvement of men and boys in promoting gender equality was also emphasized by several speakers. A number of States pointed out that ensuring gender equality was a rights issue that concerned every member of society and that investing in women as agents of development led to better living conditions for entire populations. 61. Some speakers also observed the need to ensure the equal sharing of domestic work and childcare between women and men, as well as to ensure that all women had equal access to high-quality education. In the context of peace and security, several States pointed out that women continued to be excluded from peace negotiations and conflict resolution initiatives and that their empowerment and full participation in conflict resolution and postconflict efforts was critical to the sustainability of international peace and security. Some speakers called on States to step up their efforts to enforce the principle of gender parity and also take into account the situation of women human rights defenders, who often faced systemic and pervasive attacks against their work, their identity and their bodies. D. Concluding remarks by the panellists 62. Panellists agreed that gender stereotypes, prejudices and patriarchal structures continued to have a negative impact on gender equality, and that this situation was often exacerbated by negative portrayals of women in the media. There was a need for greater recognition of women as important agents of change. Therefore, much remained to be done to ensure the full and equal participation of women in power structures and decisionmaking bodies. 63. While welcoming measures taken by States to promote gender equality in participation in power and decision-making, panellists emphasized that laws, policies and plans should also be gender sensitive and be fully implemented. Special temporary measures such as quotas were a good way to accelerate progress towards gender equality, but must be complemented by programmes that supported and built capacities of women with the skills and confidence needed to lead and participate effectively in decision-making processes. 64. In this connection, panellists emphasized the crucial importance of education— teaching girls and boys at as early an age as possible about gender equality, and empowering young women with the tools to become the leaders of tomorrow. Confidencebuilding measures, such as utilizing the media, including social media, to showcase women and girl role models, would contribute to creating greater confidence among women and girls in their ability to be successful in all areas. Technology was also deemed of great importance, for example in education and e-training for women, in financing through crowd funding, and in gender-sensitive data collection. 12