Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

1. The Committee notes the Government's report, in particular the information concerning the entry into force on 1 July 1994 of the Working Time Act, under which prohibitions and restrictions in respect of women working in the coal and steel industry, the building trade and vehicle manufacture, as well as the ban on night work, have been abolished.

2. Discrimination on the grounds of race, colour and national extraction. The Committee takes note of the information supplied in the Government's report on training for foreigners, but would recall that it is interested in receiving indications of any measures being taken to foster understanding and tolerance, thereby promoting equality in employment, for German citizens of different ethnic origin. The Committee observes, for example, that in its report on the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Government describes: (1) activities for the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein; (2) the creation and activities of the "Foundation for the Sorbian People", which promotes equality for this minority in the Länder of Brandenburg and Saxony; and (3) schooling, training and cultural activities for the Sinti and Rom (UN document CERD/C/226/Add.7 of 12 March 1993). The Committee would appreciate receiving recent information of this kind, together with statistical data on the proportion of ethnic minorities in schooling, training, and employment, in the Government's next report.

3. Discrimination on the ground of sex. The Committee notes that, according to the report, the appointment of women in the highest federal administrative bodies and subordinate departments has been given effect through the amended Guideline concerning women's advancement of October 1990 and the new Second Equality Act referred to in the observation under this Convention. It welcomes the Government's initiative called "Women give technology a new impetus" and the continuing vocational training work of the Federal Labour Institute towards extending the range of career options for young women, since around half of all persons seeking such counselling in both the old and the new Länder are women and girls.

4. The Committee notes, however, that access to training posts and to jobs in the private sector continues to be a problem for young women, particularly in the new Länder. Noting that the "Federal Initiative East" targets training for the service industry and commerce and that around 70 per cent of its external training places had been taken by girls at April 1994 and that a new special programme was introduced in 1994 (with joint federal, Länder and European Social Fund financing) so as to provide further training opportunities for young women, the Committee requests the Government to provide, in its next report, data on the number of women accepted for training in both "traditional" occupations and non-traditional trades, and on the number of trained women that actually get jobs once qualified.