A/HRC/26/39 discrimination. The ILO Migrant Workers Convention (No. 143) and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families also provide important protections. 53. General Recommendation No. 26 highlights that discrimination against women migrant workers may be especially acute in relation to pregnancy. However, there are some instances of good practice where, for example, the deportation of pregnant migrant workers was expressly prohibited by a High Court decision. Reduction and reconstruction of informal work 54. In order to secure decent work for women, the damaging impact of informal work must be addressed. This requires reduction and reconstruction of informal work. 55. Reducing informal work for women means increasing women’s opportunities to work in the formal labour market. States, in different regions and at different income levels, have invested in the reskilling or professionalization of unemployed persons, with targeted benefits for women, such as retraining for jobs, especially for those with family responsibilities, or in setting quotas for women in employment guarantee programmes targeted at the poorest households. In the 2008 economic crisis, some States engaged in good practice specifically preserving women’s jobs, and four countries in different regions increased their public works programmes with focus on female participation. 56. Reconstructing informal employment is often possible through legal interpretation or law enforcement. Legal factors that exclude informal workers from the coverage of protective labour laws include narrow definitions of the employment relationship, recognition of contracting out, specific exclusions and lack of enforcement. There is some judicial good practice to void the use of “flexibilized” patterns of employment by employers seeking to avoid their labour law obligations; of extending anti-discrimination legislation to leased employees; and of applying a pro rata system to employment conditions of part-time, temporary or leased workers. Reconstructing the informal labour in order to guarantee decent work for women also requires extending all social security rights, including maternity and care rights, to informal sector employees. Women as business leaders, entrepreneurs and economic decision-makers10 2. 57. Women make important contributions to business around the world as business owners and entrepreneurs, with 224 million women globally operating businesses. Women tend to be concentrated in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which account for a significant share of employment generation and economic growth potential, with full or partial female ownership representing 31–38 per cent of SMEs in emerging markets. Women informal traders contribute significantly to national gross domestic product, accounting for between 40 and 65 per cent of value added in trade in some African countries. Research shows that companies with female board membership and diversity outperform others in return on sales, invested capital and equity. Furthermore, during the financial crisis, companies with women in the leadership had a better record of financial and employment sustainability. 58. Nevertheless, there is a significant gender gap in top leadership in decision-making bodies in business, finance and trade, including in international institutions such as the IMF and the WTO. Out of the world’s 2,000 top performing companies, just 29, or 1.5 per cent, 10 12 This section draws upon the background papers by Ama Marston and Efrat Herzberg. See also the bibliography for this section.