aggravated in rural and poor areas where farming requires intensive use of male labour.310 Thus, States must establish a minimum age of employment which allows both boys and girls to complete primary and secondary education.311 Health, marriage and pregnancy Patriarchal practices that limit female autonomy and keep young and teenage girls away from education usually involve early or unwanted marriages, pregnancies and motherhood. Teenage marriages are often based on a type of socialisation that reinforces the idea held by parents that the ultimate objective for girls is matrimony.312 Thus, States should take measures to ensure that girls’ education is not interrupted or terminated by early marriage and motherhood. In particular, States should set a minimum age for marriage at a level which allows both boys and girls to complete their primary and secondary education and which ensures that girls are not forced into early marriage and motherhood.313 Educational programmes should be organised for girls and women who have not been able to attend school or who have left school prematurely, particularly through pregnancy and motherhood. Pregnant girls and women and mothers should be encouraged to continue schooling, and support facilities should be provided, preferably in a school environment that can cater to their special needs (including food and adequate child care). Their families should be encouraged to support them in their education. The Special Rapporteur has explored the issue of pregnancy as a “disciplinary offence” that may lead to the expulsion of girls from school.314 While on one hand there are societal pressures and expectations for girls to marry young, the views of parents, teachers and community leaders tend to support the expulsion of pregnant girls from schools. Most of the time, expulsion has been seen as a way to punish these “young mothers” and affirm a moral norm which prohibits teenage sex. The Supreme Court of Colombia has held that “[t]he conversion of pregnancy – through school regulations – into a ground for punishment violates fundamental rights to equality, privacy, free development of personality, and to education.”315 310 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education Girls’ right to education E/CN.4/2006/45 8 February 2006 at para 95. 311 See term of reference (i) for further discussion on the minimum age of employment. 312 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education Girls’ right to education E/CN.4/2006/45 8 February 2006 at paras 71 – 72. 313 See term of reference (i) for further discussion on the minimum age of marriage. 314 See Progress Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education E/CN.4/2000/6 1 February 2000 at paras 56 – 60 and Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education Girls’ right to education E/CN.4/2006/45 8 February 2006 at para 76. 315 See Progress Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education E/CN.4/2000/6 1 February 2000 at para 59 and fn 55. 111