A/HRC/33/49 in the enjoyment of other human rights are key to understanding and developing improved policy responses. V. Conclusions and recommendations 75. Safe, adequate and affordable access to water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as the promotion of women’s empowerment, can serve as an entry point to ensure that women and girls can enjoy their right to have and make choices, their right to have access to opportunities and resources, and their right to control their own lives, both inside and outside the home. Gender equality in respect of the human rights to water and sanitation will not only empower women individually but will also help women overcome poverty and empower their children, families and communities. 76. Likewise, structural gender inequalities have an inevitable impact on the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation. Any approach to overcoming gender inequalities in respect of the rights to water and sanitation must therefore address women’s strategic needs, including the eradication of harmful gender stereotypes, alongside interventions that focus on the implementation of women’s material needs, such as adequate menstrual hygiene facilities. Although such a transformative approach that challenges social norms, stereotypes and intra-household patterns may take time, it is required in order to ultimately achieve gender equality in the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation. 77. In line with the above, the Special Rapporteur recommends that States: (a) Identify, repeal and reform all laws that have both direct and indirect discriminatory consequences with regard to the equal enjoyment of the human rights to water and sanitation, as well as with regard to gender-based violence; (b) Go beyond enacting formal provisions and implement targeted policies and budgets, among other measures, in order to tackle structural gender inequalities for the enjoyment of the rights to water and sanitation; (c) Make a legitimate effort to prevent and combat the root causes of gender inequalities, including the impacts of social norms, stereotypes, roles and taboos with regard to both women and men, through public campaigns, education and the media, among other measures; (d) Create an enabling environment for women and girls to safely use water and sanitation facilities. Discrimination and violence based on gender identity must be prevented, investigated and remedied, and those responsible must be prosecuted; (e) Promote gender equality, through intersectional policies, considering that gender-based inequalities related to water and sanitation are exacerbated when they are coupled with other grounds of discrimination and disadvantages; (f) Increase collaboration between entities operating in the water, sanitation and hygiene sector and those operating in other sectors, including the health sector, to address gender inequalities and culturally taboo topics more effectively and in a comprehensive manner; (g) Apply a gender analysis and increase women’s participation in the formulation of government budgets to water, sanitation and hygiene; (h) Ensure that regulations require that the specific needs of women and girls are incorporated into the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of water and sanitation facilities, taking into consideration the special needs of women 20