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The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report and the attached documentation.

The Committee notes the Government’s reply to its previous comment indicating the lack of any need for the Government to study equality of remuneration because remuneration is fixed through the General Collective Labour Agreement as well as sectoral agreements, unequal wages for the same work are formally prohibited, and no discrimination on the ground of sex exists. At the same time the Committee notes that in the second and third periodic reports under the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Government recognized the existence of a significant earnings gap between men and women in all sectors with reference to the period 1985-93. The Committee also draws the attention of the Government to the concluding observation on these reports (1999) formulated by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which noted positive trends in the employment situation of women, but also expressed concern about their situation in the formal and informal labour market, highlighting the "continuing pay gap between women and men". Moreover, it has expressed its concern that "many of the new jobs occupied by women provide only low pay and limited career prospects". This Committee has repeatedly emphasized that an analysis of the position and pay of men and women in all job categories within and between the various sectors is required to address the pay gap between men and women, which exists to some extent in all countries (see General Report, 2001, paragraphs 36-50). The Committee asks the Government to take into consideration the possibility for the General Secretariat for Equality to conduct studies on the position of men and women in the labour market, the extent of pay differentials, and the factors which perpetuate pay differentials between men and women in both formal and informal sectors in order to enable appropriate measures to be developed and implemented to promote equal pay for men and women for work of equal value.

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