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1. In its previous observation, the Committee noted that the gender pay gap in Finland had remained unchanged in recent years and asked the Government to provide information on the measures taken to identify and correct pay differentials due to the undervaluation of work predominantly performed by women. In this regard, the Committee notes from the Government’s report that the Government’s Action Plan for Gender Equality 2004-07 sets out a number of objectives and measures aimed at reducing gender-based pay differentials, in cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations. It notes with interest that, as provided for in the Action Plan, the previous equality provisions have been strengthened by the Act amending the Act on Equality between Men and Women (Act No. 232/2005). The Committee notes in particular that under the amended Act on Equality between Men and Women, equality plans, which are obligatory for private and public undertakings with more than 30 employees, must include information that enables workers and employers to monitor the equality situation in the enterprise concerned, i.e. details concerning the employment of men and women in different jobs and a survey of the grade of jobs performed by men and women, the remuneration for those jobs and differences in pay (section 6a(2)). Further, equality plans must set out measures to achieve pay equality and a review of the impact of measures previously taken to this end. Under the Act, employers must also promote equitable recruitment of women and men in the various jobs and create equal opportunities for career advancement (section 6(2)). The Committee asks the Government to provide information regarding the following:

(a)   implementation and enforcement of the equal pay provisions of the amended Act on Equality between Men and Women, including information as to the activities of the Ombudsperson for Equality and the Equality Board to supervise compliance with the Act, as well as relevant court decisions;

(b)   progress made in the preparation and implementation of equality plans that address equal pay issues in accordance with the Act, indicating examples of  plans that have resulted in the reduction of gender-based pay differentials in the enterprises concerned; and

(c)   the manner in which compliance with the Act’s equal pay provisions is ensured through the promotion and use of objective job evaluation methods.

2. The Committee further notes that a tripartite equal pay working group was established with the task of preparing an equal pay programme to be implemented through tripartite cooperation. The working group completed its work in May 2005, proposing a comprehensive programme that provides for measures to be taken in a number of targeted areas, including measures to address horizontal and vertical occupational segregation by gender, women’s career development, equality planning, reconciliation of family and work responsibilities, pay systems, employment contract policies and statistics. The programme aims at closing the current gender pay gap of approximately 20 per cent, calculated on the basis of regular monthly working hours, by at least 5 per cent by 2015. The Committee asks the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken under the equal pay programme in respect of each of the areas mentioned above and the progress made in achieving the target set for 2015. Noting that the Government’s report does not contain updated statistical information concerning men’s and women’s earnings, the Committee asks the Government to provide such information in its next report, as well as any further studies or analyses undertaken concerning the evaluation and elimination of the gender pay gap.

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