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1. The Committee notes with interest the information supplied by the Government in regard to the points raised in its previous direct request, and particularly the statistical data supplied for 1996 regarding participation by men and women in occupational training courses. Furthermore, it notes the information supplied in the "Study on minimum wages in the Dominican economy" which was prepared at the request of the Department of State for Labour.

2. The Committee observes that the Study indicates that in the free exporting zone enterprises studied, which was based on a sample of 2,746 workers, 64 per cent are women, while in the public sector enterprises with 73,625 employees, 62 per cent are women. The Committee notes that, according to the Study, in the free zones surveyed there is a clear link between the hierarchical level of the worker and gender in that the more senior positions, associated with higher wages, are usually occupied by men. In the firms covered by the sample, 66 per cent of the women and only 38.2 per cent of the men fall into the categories with wages of 3,000 Dominican pesos and below. Sixteen per cent of the men earn over RD$4,000 per month, while only 4.2 per cent of women are in this wage bracket.

3. This relationship, however, is not maintained in the public sector institutions covered by the Study (which use a large number of professionally qualified personnel) where there is a clear difference in favour of women since only 9.9 per cent of the women as opposed to 19.95 per cent of the men earn RD$2,000 or less. Those who earn RD$4,000 and above constitute 66.4 per cent of the women and only 57 per cent of the men.

4. Although the matter of equal wages will be dealt with under Convention No. 100, the Committee recalls that indirect discrimination is related to situations, regulations or practices which are apparently neutral but which, in reality, create inequality in respect of people with specific characteristics. Such situations arise when identical conditions, treatment or criteria apply to everyone but their effects have a highly unfavourable impact on some people due to reasons based, inter alia, on sex and do not have a direct link with the requirements of the work. This can be the case when women are excluded from certain posts requiring the exercise of authority simply because they are women and because they encounter negative prejudice in the matter. On this question, see paragraphs 26 and 120 of the 1996 Special Survey on equality in employment and occupation. The Committee therefore requests the Government to inform it whether there exist plans or projects which assist women workers, particularly those who work in the free exporting zones, to have access to better jobs and better wages.