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1. The Committee recalls its previous comments with regard to the statistical findings of the 1993-94 study undertaken in the context of the Four-Year Plan of Action on Gender Equality, which confirmed the considerable wage differences between men and women, especially for those with senior school and university education. This trend was also noted in the country's National Report to the UN Conference on Women in 1995 (hourly wages paid to women constituted 83.1 per cent of those paid to men; women civil servants earned only 65 per cent of the total pay of men civil servants). The Committee notes that neither the Government's report nor the ILO Yearbook of labour statistics (1998) contains more recent data on men's and women's average earnings or hourly wages. The Committee refers to its general observation of 1998 on this Convention and requests the Government to supply in its next report recent statistical data on the average earnings of men and women as well as on the distribution of men and women in the public and private sector by earnings levels, in order to permit the Committee to assess fully the extent and nature of the pay differentials and the progress achieved in implementing the principle of the Convention.

2. Further to its previous comments with regard to Article 3 of the Convention, the Committee notes with interest the information in the Government's report that the experimental project, which had been proposed by the working group of the Ministry of Social Affairs in 1996 to undertake occupational assessments using gender-neutral job ranking, was launched and due to be completed in December 1998. The Government indicated that the scope of the project was confined to the public sector and included the Municipal Department of Social Affairs, the Reykjavik District Heating Utility and the national hospitals, as these bodies were regarded as giving a good picture of the traditional divisions of jobs by gender on the employment market. The project used the Swedish job evaluation system as a model, and the findings of the project will be published in a final report with a conclusion drawn on whether job assessment is a useful method of reducing gender-based wage differentials. Furthermore, the working group of the Ministry is to lay down guidelines on the use of job assessment and how it is to be carried out for use of those who intend to make job assessment a part of their wage-fixing process. The Committee notes this information and looks forward to receiving the project's findings and its impact in reducing wage differentials as well as any guidelines formulated by the Ministry's working group on the practical use of the job assessment. It also requests the Government to indicate whether it contemplates a similar job assessment exercise for the private sector.

3. The Committee notes the information provided in the Government's report concerning the 1996 Equal Status Conference which confirmed earlier findings that greater participation by women in paid employment, and their increasing pursuit of education, have not resulted in greater equality between the sexes as regards wages. The Committee notes that the Conference urged the Government and the social partners to agree in the forthcoming wages and terms agreements on definite measures to eradicate gender-based wage differentials. It notes that it was considered vital to ensure that the employers and trade unions conduct regular and impartial surveys of the wages and terms of employment of women and men, and that steps be taken to guarantee additional influence by women in wages and terms negotiations. The Committee requests the Government to supply examples in its next report on wages and terms agreements that have included measures to eradicate gender-based wage differentials and to communicate the results of any surveys carried out on wages and terms of employment of women and men.

4. In its previous direct request, the Committee noted that some of the factors identified for gender-based wage differentials were related to women in part-time posts and in lower income and lower status jobs. In this connection, the Committee notes that the Equal Status Conference urged the Government and the social partners to undertake a number of other measures to promote equal opportunity and equal treatment of women and men in the labour market which may, in general, contribute to reducing the wage gap between men and women. Such measures include, inter alia, awareness-raising programmes, policies aimed at combining family life with participation in employment and active study guidance and employment counselling with the aim of broadening the range of educational and employment choices for boys and girls. The Committee requests the Government to indicate, in its next report, the progress achieved (in reducing the wage gap) with regard to the activities undertaken in follow-up of its recommendations of the Equal Status Conference. It encourages the Government to continue to provide information about the three-yearly Equal Status Conferences and in particular about the outcome of the Conference held in 1999.

5. The Committee notes that in 1997, 16.7 per cent of the cases received by the Equal Status Complaints Committee concerned wage discrimination. The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply information on the nature of these cases and to include examples of statements issued by the Complaints Committee in wage discrimination cases, and to provide information on any court decisions concerning the application of the principle laid down in the Convention.