Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2003, publiée 92ème session CIT (2004)

The Committee notes the Government’s report.

1. The Committee notes that the Ministry for the Advancement of Women, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Employment carried out a project entitled "Equal pay - Challenge for democratic and economic development" within the EU framework strategy for gender equality. It also notes the holding of an international conference on equal pay in February 2002. Noting that a 1995 study of the gender wage gap revealed an unexplained difference of 11 per cent, the Committee looks forward to receiving a copy of the study on equal remuneration carried out under the above project, as well as information on the project’s implementation, and its impact on reducing the remuneration gap between men and women.

2. The Committee recalls the Government’s statement that wage differences between men and women generally do not originate in direct pay discrimination but rather in career breaks for family reasons and in the lack of promotion and career progress. In this respect, the Committee notes that difficulties encountered in applying the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value are indeed intimately linked to the general status of women and men in employment and society, including with regard to the distribution of family responsibilities between men and women. The Committee therefore asks the Government to provide information on measures taken to encourage men and women to equally share family responsibilities and to better balance work and family life. While the Committee notes that the interventions of the equality representatives and mixed committees referred to in its previous direct request with regard to specific cases may be confidential, the Government is nevertheless requested to provide general information on how these representatives and committees carry out their mandate in practice with regard to the promotion of gender equality at work with specific reference to equal pay objectives, including an overall assessment on the obstacles experienced towards greater equality at the workplace.

3. With reference to its previous comments concerning the establishment of work evaluation systems based on non-sexist criteria, the Committee notes that in the framework of the abovementioned project, the Ministry for the Advancement of Women organized training sessions on job evaluation and classification for workers’ and employers’ representatives and elaborated proposals in this regard for incorporation in the National Action Plan for Employment. Please continue to provide information on these and other activities to promote the application of the Convention through objective evaluation of jobs, including information on any progress made as a result of the abovementioned training activities with regard to including non-discriminatory criteria for job evaluation and classification in collective agreements.

4. In this context, the Committee also notes from the report that a bill is under preparation, which would enable the negotiators of collective agreements to request legal opinions from the labour inspectorate on the conformity of the provisions of draft collective agreements with the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment. The Government is asked to keep the Committee informed of the progress made with regard to this initiative and to provide the text of the legislation when adopted.

5. In addition to the forthcoming report analysing the existing gender wage gap, the Committee asks the Government to provide statistical information on the distribution of men and women in the public and private sector by earnings level and hours of work, classified as indicated in the 1998 general observation on the Convention. Please also provide any court decisions relevant to the application of the Convention.