Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

1. Part III of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes from the 2002 Employment Survey that although average monthly earnings for women in full-time work have again increased at a greater rate than those for men between October 2001 and 2002, increasing by 2.1 per cent compared with 1.6 per cent for men, the pay differential between men and women remains substantial. In April 1998, men earned on average £382.68 per month more than women, whereas in October 2002, they earned on average £602.74 per month more than women. The Committee notes that in fact there is not a single industry where the average earnings of monthly paid full-time work for women is equivalent to or higher than men’s earnings. Nor are there any occupations in which women earn the same as men, in either the public or private sector. The only exceptions to this situation are weekly paid part-time work, where women managers and senior officials earn 9 per cent more than men, and women administrative and secretarial employees earn 22 per cent more than men. However, women in the wholesale and retail industry, which employs the largest proportion of weekly paid female part-time workers (over 35 per cent) earn 16 per cent less than the average earnings of part-time working men. The Committee also notes that Moroccan and Spanish women in monthly paid full-time employment earn significantly less than men of the same nationality (up to 30 per cent less).

2. The Committee notes that there appear to be greater discrepancies between the earnings of men and women working full time and paid on a monthly basis than those employed full time but paid on a weekly basis. The statistics indicate that monthly paid full-time female managers and senior officials are on average paid 29 per cent less than male monthly paid managers and senior officials, whereas those in weekly paid equivalent occupations are paid 18 per cent less than men. Also, monthly paid full-time female administrative and secretarial employees are paid 20 per cent less than men in the same occupation whereas those in weekly paid equivalent positions are paid 10 per cent less than men. The Committee asks the Government to provide further information explaining why the different payment schedules impact negatively on the earnings of women.

3. The Government has previously indicated that the lack of parity between the average wage earned by men and women in full-time employment is due in the main to the fact that men predominate in the better paid positions and work longer hours. However, the Committee notes that 5 per cent of both women and men are in weekly paid full-time work as managers or senior officials. Whereas men working as managers or senior officials earn on average weekly earnings of £343.41 for average weekly hours of 40.9, women earn only £272.81 for average weekly hours of 39.6. Accounting for the small difference in hours worked, women are still earning 18 per cent less than men in the same occupation. Similarly, in weekly paid full-time administrative and secretarial work, men are paid on average 10 per cent more than women even accounting for the extra three hours on average worked overtime.

4. Article 2 of the Convention. Measures to promote equal remuneration. In light of the above, the Committee hopes the Government will be in a position to analyse and try to correct the causes of the continuing income gap between men and women and to promote women’s access to higher paid positions. The Government is asked to provide information on all measures taken towards this end and the results of such action.

5. Article 3. Job appraisals. The Committee also reiterates its request for information relating to the establishment of systems for comparative job evaluation or any other action taken to re-evaluate the remuneration levels of jobs in which women predominate to remove the direct or systematic sex bias in the calculation or methods of wage fixing.