33 2 PROTECTION STRATEGIES 2.4 SYSTEMIC INITIATIVES Given the long-standing and embedded inequalities experienced by women across virtually all social and economic dimensions, systemic initiatives are especially important for women’s rights and gender equality. These may include pooled complaints, system-wide investigations and public inquiries, as well as monitoring programmes paired with publications and publicawareness strategies to redress inequalities at the systemic level in terms of women’s rights, gender equality and gender-based stereotypes. • NHRIs may choose to pool complaints that come from a  common source or factor, and investigate them together. • System-wide or systemic investigations are used to inquire into broad-based, organizational or structural factors that may be the cause of discrimination. • Monitoring programmes are useful because they track progress within sectors or areas of activity and can then provide information about women’s rights and equality at a system-wide level. The ODIHR survey revealed that a number of NHRIs in the OSCE region appeared to face difficulties identifying and sustaining major strategic initiatives to redress systemic inequalities in terms of women’s rights and gender equality. For this reason, the Handbook refers to opportunities for conducting systemic initiatives and taking systemic approaches across all NHRI activities. Example The Equality and Human Rights Commission in the United Kingdom reported that it had launched an inquiry to assess the prevalence and impacts of human trafficking, given that the victims are often “hidden” and unable to come forward to complain. ! Human trafficking affects women and men, and it is, first and foremost, a criminal matter. However, in the OSCE survey, human trafficking was identified by NHRIs as one of the main issues relating to women’s rights. Example In 2012, the Polish Human Rights Defender submitted a petition to the Minister of National Education, emphasizing the importance of systemic human rights education, and assessing the national efforts on this issue as insufficient. The petition stated that insufficient human rights education reinforces stereotypes, including those based on gender. The Human Rights Defender based the petition on pooled complaints received regarding stereotypical and degrading images of women in advertisements and prejudiced gender roles in school textbooks. The Human Rights Defender also highlighted the need for gender-sensitive language in the official classification of professions and specializations.