E/C.12/GC/23 effectively regulate and enforce that right, and sanction non-compliance by public and private employers. 52. State parties should avoid taking any deliberately retrogressive measure without careful consideration and justification. When a State party seeks to introduce retrogressive measures, for example, in response to an economic crisis, it has to demonstrate that such measures are temporary, necessary and non-discriminatory, and that they respect at least its core obligations.44 A State party may never justify retrogressive measures in relation to aspects of the right to just and favourable conditions of work that are subject to immediate or core obligations. States parties facing considerable difficulties in achieving progressive realization of that right due to a lack of national resources have an obligation to seek international cooperation and assistance. 53. States parties must guarantee that the right to just and favourable conditions of work is exercised without discrimination of any kind. Specifically, they have an obligation to guarantee that women enjoy conditions of work not inferior to those of men and receive equal pay for work of equal value, which requires the immediate elimination of formal and substantive discrimination.45 States parties must also combat all forms of unequal treatment arising from precarious employment relationships. 54. In order to ensure accountability, States parties should establish a functioning system of labour inspectorates, with the involvement of social partners, to monitor all aspects of the right to just and favourable conditions of work for all workers, including workers in the informal economy, domestic workers and agricultural workers; to provide advice to workers and employers; and to raise any abuses with competent authorities. Labour inspectorates should be independent and adequately resourced; staffed with trained professionals; able to rely on specialists and medical experts; and have the authority to enter workplaces freely and without prior notice, make recommendations to prevent or remedy problems and facilitate access to justice for victims. Penalties should apply for non-compliance with their recommendations. Labour inspectorates should focus on monitoring the rights of workers and not be used for other purposes, such as checking the migration status of workers. 55. States parties should identify indicators and benchmarks to monitor the implementation of the right to just and favourable conditions of work. Such indicators and benchmarks should address the different elements of the right to just and favourable conditions of work, be disaggregated by sex and other relevant grounds such as age, disability, nationality and urban/rural location, and cover all persons under the territorial jurisdiction of the State party or under its control. States parties should define the indicators that are most relevant to national implementation of the right, such as the incidence of occupational accidents; the ratio of women’s wages to men’s wages; the proportion of women and other underrepresented individuals in high-level positions; the proportion of workers offered continuing job training; the number of complaints of harassment received and resolved; the minimum standards for rest, leisure, hours of work and paid annual leave; and the uptake of measures to reconcile professional and family life by women and men. In selecting indicators, the Committee invites States parties to take into account available guidance, including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights 44 45 Letter of the Chair of the Committee to States parties on austerity measures, May 2012. See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 20, para. 8. 15