E/C.12/GC/23 work predominantly performed by women. States parties should take into account the different requirements of male and female workers. For example, specific measures might be necessary to protect the safety and health of pregnant workers in relation to travel or night work. Day-care services in the workplace and flexible working arrangements can promote equal conditions of work in practice. Workers benefiting from gender-specific measures should not be penalized in other areas. States parties must take measures to address traditional gender roles and other structural obstacles that perpetuate gender inequality; (b) Young workers and older workers: All workers should be protected against age discrimination. Young workers should not suffer wage discrimination, for example, being forced to accept low wages that do not reflect their skills. An excessive use of unpaid internships and training programmes, as well as of short-term and fixed-term contracts that negatively affect job security, career prospects and social security benefits, is not in line with the right to just and favourable conditions of work. Laws and regulations should include specific measures to protect the health and safety of young workers, including through raising the minimum age for certain types of work. 38 Older workers should receive fair wages and equal remuneration for work of equal value, and have equal opportunity for promotion based on their experience and know-how.39 Specific health and safety measures might be necessary, and older workers should benefit from pre-retirement programmes, if they so wish.40 The cumulative effects of discrimination against female workers through the life cycle might require targeted measures to achieve equality and guarantee fair wages, equal opportunities for promotion and equal pension rights; (c) Workers with disabilities: At times, workers with disabilities require specific measures to enjoy the right to just and favourable conditions of work on an equal basis with others. Workers with disabilities should not be segregated in sheltered workshops. They should benefit from an accessible work environment and must not be denied reasonable accommodation, like workplace adjustments or flexible working arrangements. They should also enjoy equal remuneration for work of equal value and must not suffer wage discrimination due to a perceived reduced capacity for work; (d) Workers in the informal economy: Although these workers account for a significant percentage of the world’s workforce, they are often excluded from national statistics and legal protection, support and safeguards, exacerbating vulnerability. While the overall objective should be to formalize work, laws and policies should explicitly extend to workers in the informal economy and States parties should take steps to gather relevant disaggregated data so as to include this category of workers in the progressive realization of the right to just and favourable conditions of work. For that purpose, the informal economy should be included in the mandate of the respective monitoring and enforcement mechanism. Women are often overrepresented in the informal economy, for example, as casual workers, home workers or own-account workers, which in turn exacerbates inequalities in areas such as remuneration, health and safety, rest, leisure and paid leave; (e) Migrant workers: These workers, in particular if they are undocumented, are vulnerable to exploitation, long working hours, unfair wages and dangerous and unhealthy working environments. Such vulnerability is increased by abusive labour practices that give the employer control over the migrant worker’s residence status or that tie migrant workers to a specific employer. If they do not speak the national language(s), they might be less 38 39 40 12 See ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), arts. 3 and 7. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 6 (1995) on the economic, social and cultural rights of older persons, para. 23. Ibid., para. 24.