E/C.12/GC/20 page 6 Multiple discrimination9 17. Some individuals or groups of individuals face discrimination on more than one of the prohibited grounds, for example women belonging to an ethnic or religious minority. Such cumulative discrimination has a unique and specific impact on individuals and merits particular consideration and remedying. A. Express grounds 18. The Committee has consistently raised concern over formal and substantive discrimination across a wide range of Covenant rights against indigenous peoples and ethnic minorities among others. “Race and colour” 19. Discrimination on the basis of “race and colour”, which includes an individual’s ethnic origin, is prohibited by the Covenant as well as by other treaties including the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The use of the term “race” in the Covenant or the present general comment does not imply the acceptance of theories which attempt to determine the existence of separate human races.10 Sex 20. The Covenant guarantees the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights.11 Since the adoption of the Covenant, the notion of the prohibited ground “sex” has evolved considerably to cover not only physiological characteristics but also the social construction of gender stereotypes, prejudices and expected roles, which have created obstacles to the equal fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights. Thus, the refusal to hire a woman, on the ground that she might become pregnant, or the allocation of low-level or part-time jobs to women based on the stereotypical assumption that, for example, they are unwilling to commit as much time to their work as men, constitutes discrimination. Refusal to grant paternity leave may also amount to discrimination against men. 9 See para. 27 of the present general comment on intersectional discrimination. 10 See the outcome document of the Durban Review Conference, para. 6: “Reaffirms that all peoples and individuals constitute one human family, rich in diversity, and that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights; and strongly rejects any doctrine of racial superiority along with theories which attempt to determine the existence of so-called distinct human races.” 11 See art. 3 of the Covenant, and CESCR general comment No. 16.