The target of reaching equality in basic education for girls and boys is being met in much of the world, but girls and women still faced inequality in the labour market, in domestic violence and in vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, the United Nations expert on gender issues has said. Educational opportunities were being equalized in many countries and probably would be nearly met by 2005, except in sub-Saharan Africa and southern and western Asia, she said at the opening of the Committee's 32nd session, said the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, Rachel Mayanja, who told the 23-member Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) that girls and women were being denied decision-making roles, were being left in abject poverty and were vulnerable to being trafficked.