Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2010, publiée 100ème session CIT (2011)

Article 1 of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value and gender remuneration gap. For many years, the Committee has been stressing that the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value is not fully reflected in the legislation or in collective agreements. In its observation of 2008, the Committee had pointed out that the Act on Ensuring Gender Equality, adopted in 2006, limited the application of the principle of equal wage for men and women to performance of work under equal conditions, in the same enterprise and with the same skills. The Committee had emphasized that this did not allow any comparison between different jobs or between work performed in different enterprises that could, nonetheless, be of equal value. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not reply to its request to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to bring the legislation into full conformity with the Convention.

The Committee notes that the statistics of 2006, published by the State Statistical Committee and communicated in the report, show the existence of significant horizontal gender occupational segregation within the labour market. Women work predominantly in medical and social services and education, where they represent more than 70 per cent of the workers: men predominantly work in manufacturing, agriculture, fishing, mining, construction, transport, energy production and distribution, where they represent more than 70 per cent of the workers; men represent more than 60 per cent of the workers in finance, services to hotels and restaurants and wholesale and retail trade. With respect to their average wages, according to the statistics for October 2006 provided by the Government, women were earning significantly less than men in many sectors of the economy: 60 per cent less than men in construction; 50 per cent less in oil and gas production; 35 per cent less in chemical industries and aviation; 30 per cent less in finance. Furthermore, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) expressed concern at the persistence of such gender segregation within the labour market – both vertical and horizontal – the concentration of women in lower-paying sectors, and the persistence of the wage gap, which remains very wide in certain industries (CEDAW/C/AZE/CO/4, 7 August 2009, paragraph 31).

The Committee recalls that, particularly in a context where men and women perform different work, in different sectors of the economy and, as a consequence, in different enterprises, the concept of “work of equal value” is essential to give full effect to the principle of equal remuneration between men and women in practice and to address effectively the gender remuneration gap. The Committee therefore asks the Government to take the necessary measures to incorporate in its legislation the principle of equal remuneration between men and women for work of equal value and to ensure that measures are taken to implement this principle in practice, including through collective agreements, and address effectively the wide gender remuneration gap.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.