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1. In its previous observation, the Committee requested the Government to amend section 3 of the General Labour Act, under which the proportion of female staff may not exceed 45 per cent in enterprises and establishments which, by their nature, do not require the use of a larger proportion of women workers. The Committee also requested that the amendment to the Labour Act take into account paragraph 5 of the ILO resolution on equal opportunities and equal treatment for men and women in employment, adopted in 1985, since this would provide an opportunity to re-examine, in the light of up to date scientific knowledge and technical changes, all protective legislation applying solely to women with a view to revising and repealing it, as appropriate, in consultation with the social partners and women workers, taking into account the measures aimed at promoting equality for men and women in employment. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the current social and political conditions make any amendment to the General Labour Act impossible, mainly because of the workers themselves, who, fearing that any reform will open the way to the “flexibilization of work”, prefer to oppose any change. The Government indicates that although the General Labour Act Bill, prepared with the technical assistance of the ILO, is ready, it has not yet been adopted for the abovementioned reasons. The Government also indicates that the legal provision in question has fallen into disuse and is not applied in practice, and that the amendment of this section will therefore be a mere formality to adapt the provision to the reality of the situation in Bolivia. Noting the above, the Committee hopes that the Government will consider at the earliest opportunity bringing the legislation into line with the practice and asks to be kept informed in this regard.

2. The Committee notes with interest the 2004-07 National Public Policies Plan for the full exercise of women’s rights, prepared by the Vice-Ministry of Women, approved by Ministerial Decision No. 006 of 24 January 2005 and authenticated by Supreme Decree No. 28035 of 7 March 2005. In the economic dimension, the Plan identifies a context of ethnic poverty and discrimination common to indigenous men and women, natives and farmers, as well as gender-related elements of discrimination due to the sexual division of labour, the occupational pattern by gender and the segmentation and concentration of the female labour force, all of which widen the gender inequity gap in the economic field. The Plan puts forward a series of policies to eliminate discrimination, including institutional, training-related, economic and legal measures. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the measures taken to apply the Plan and of their impact in practice. The Committee, noting that one of the development objectives of the Plan is to “amend laws that are sources of inequity for women and increase timely and effective access for women to the justice system, within the framework of the new Political Constitution of the State, until 2007”, would be grateful if the Government would keep it informed of any action taken to meet the abovementioned objective and of any progress made. The Committee also hopes that by amending the legislation to meet this objective, the Government will make an effort to achieve consensus so as to amend section 3 of the General Labour Act in the manner indicated by the Committee and that it will keep the Committee informed in this respect.

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