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The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report, including the statistics, as well as the comments made by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) in October 2002 on matters related to the application of the Convention, and the Government’s reply.

1. According to the ICFTU’s communication, women regularly earn lower remuneration than men for work of equal value and furthermore, despite the fact that there have for several years been more women than men in higher education, most positions of higher responsibility in all areas are occupied by men. The Government replies that the situation changed some years ago in both the public and private sectors, including the situation of women employed in export processing zones. The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government in its report on the application of Convention No. 111 indicating that women receive wages that are equal to or greater than those of men, principally due to the managerial posts that they occupy. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide, with its next report, statistical data disaggregated by sex on the remuneration of workers in each branch of activity, with particular reference to data on export processing zones and the hotel industry.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that a draft text was to be submitted to the Congress to modify the restrictive concept set out in section 194 of the Labour Code, thereby bringing it into conformity with the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value, as set forth in the Convention. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided information on this amendment in its last report and trusts that in its next report it will indicate that this section has been amended to give full effect to the principle set out in the Convention.