A/HRC/44/43/Add.1 work, and to ensure their participation in the design of more effective incentives for companies to hire and retain them in the labour market. 4. Migrant workers 69. The Working Group is concerned that the situation of migrant workers, who are particularly exposed to business-related human rights abuses, is not regulated by any specific legislation. It was informed that in some cases, migrant workers employed by foreign companies involved in major infrastructure projects were living at their workplace in bad living conditions. 70. The absence of adequate legal protection is compounded by the lack of official statistics on migrant workers, which makes it difficult to assess the specific challenges they face and the actions required to protect them from abuse, and to provide effective remedies. The Working Group encourages Georgia to ratify the relevant international human rights instruments, including the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, the ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) and the ILO Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143). V. Gender aspects of business and human rights 71. The impact of business-related abuses is experienced by men, women and nonbinary persons differently. The Working Group learned about several types of discrimination faced by women. Women are underrepresented in the workforce14 and are paid less than men.15 Unpaid work at home, gender-segregated jobs, sexual harassment and gender-based violence, including domestic violence, also operate as significant barriers for women to avail of economic opportunities. Moreover, as women often do not enjoy property rights, they may find it difficult to obtain loans from banks to start a new business. Labour and gender legislation already regulate various aspects of discrimination against women, including sexual harassment and discriminatory questions in pre-contractual labour relations. However, despite these efforts, gender inequality remains high: Georgia was ranked seventy-fourth in the Global Gender Gap Report 2020 of the World Economic Forum.16 72. Sexual harassment cases seem to be underreported, including because of existing patriarchal social norms and a lack of sensitivity in handling such complaints. The Working Group hopes that the recent legal amendment extending the power of the Public Defender to make binding recommendations to companies, together with the broadened mandate of the Labour Conditions Inspection Department, will provide a mechanism for accountability and redress for these cases as well. 73. The Working Group noted with concern that women working in the private sector were not entitled to any paid maternity leave as a matter of right, apart from a payment of 1,000 Georgian lari (approximately $350) offered by the Government. It also learned how reproductive rights were curtailed by internal policies of certain companies that discouraged pregnancy in the first 30 months of employment. The Working Group understands that the parliament is currently considering a proposal to extend paid maternity leave in the private sector and to provide for paternity leave. This opportunity should be used by the Government to require all companies to provide paid maternity leave in line with ILO standards and emerging best practices in other countries, and to move towards the idea that child-rearing is a shared responsibility of both parents. 14 15 16 14 In 2017, a total of 53 per cent of women were reportedly employed, compared with 67 per cent of men (www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Business/Gender/Georgia.pdf). See UN-Women Georgia, “Dialogue to be launched on policy aiming to eliminate gender pay gap”, 22 May 2019; and Mercy Tembon, “Why we care about closing gender wage gaps in the South Caucasus”, World Bank, 7 March 2019. World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2020 (Geneva, 2019), p. 9.