A/HRC/26/39 identified: both parents as full-time workers; one full-time and one part-time worker, where the part-time worker is usually the woman; or the male breadwinner model. There is also the single parent pattern, which is usually a woman. 84. Patterns of allocation are often not the result of choice, but rather of stereotyping and discrimination. There is evidence, in most countries, of discrimination in hiring, firing and workplace treatment of pregnant women; imposition of a disproportionate share of unpaid care responsibilities on women; and negative stereotyping of mothers and also fathers who are taking care of children. Cultural assumptions of the motherhood role appear to exist in tension with the conception of the ideal worker. Nevertheless, in a cross-regional comparison of selected countries, it was found that motherhood does not uniformly reduce labour force participation or occupational success and, indeed, it increases these in some countries as compared to women without children. However, it does reduce the number of hours worked and, even more, it increases, disproportionately and beyond any difference that might be explained by the reduction of work hours, the gap between mothers’ wages and fathers’ wages. Reproductive functions 85. Women’s reproductive functions include pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding. These are the biological functions of maternity. In accordance with the normative framework created by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the ILO Conventions, in some States, there are provisions, statutory or judicial, prohibiting discrimination during pregnancy and protecting women against dismissal for a period of months or even years after they give birth. Nevertheless, there has been a rise in complaints of pregnancy discrimination in a number of countries, and effective measures are required to guarantee women’s employment security during pregnancy and after birth. 86. The frameworks of the ILO and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women impose an obligation on States parties to provide paid maternity leave to employed women, set by the ILO at a minimum of 14 weeks with a recommended 18 weeks, and daily breaks for breastfeeding. The provision of maternity leave has become almost universal: 51 per cent of countries provide maternity leave of at least 14 weeks; 20 per cent of 18 weeks or more; 35 per cent of 12–13 weeks of leave. Only 14 per cent of countries provide less than 12 weeks. 87. State obligation under the Convention and ILO Conventions is to provide paid leave. Maternity leave policies without adequate compensation can lead to financial stress, and research suggests that women who return to work without taking their full maternity leave entitlement usually do so for financial reasons. Good practice for payment of maternity leave is through social insurance or public funds so as not to increase discrimination against women by employers seeking to avoid the burden of paid maternity leave. 88. Despite efforts to extend the reach of ILO Conventions to women in precarious employment, many women still do not have the basic rights set out above. The informal economy, on which overwhelming numbers of women depend for their livelihood, remains beyond the reach of labour regulation and maternity rights. The extension of paid maternity leave to women entrepreneurs or self-employed women is a good practice found in some countries. Under European Union Directives, there is a requirement to provide paid maternity leave for self-employed women, calculated on the basis of average loss of income or profit (subject to ceiling) or a national allowances level such as minimum wage. Leave is not compulsory, however, and the conditions on which is it paid often differ from those for women in formal employment. The Working Group welcomes in that regard a decision by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (Communication No. 36/2012) in which it considered that the abolition of an initially existing public maternity leave scheme, without establishing an adequate alternative maternity leave scheme to cover 17