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1. Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. In its previous comments the Committee asked the Government to introduce the concept of equal pay for men and women workers for work of equal value, by amending section 194 of the Labour Code to ensure better application of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Tripartite Committee appointed by the Labour Advisory Council in July 2007 has drafted an amendment to section 194 of the Labour Code in order to bring it into line with the Convention. The Committee hopes that the amendment will incorporate the principle of the Convention in full and asks the Government to send a copy of the amendment once it has been adopted by the National Congress.

2. The Committee notes that in its report, the Government again states that the ratio of women to men in top management positions and high-level offices is still three to one. The Committee notes, however, that the Government’s statistics provide no information disaggregated by sex on the distribution of posts or the amounts received as remuneration. It also notes from the statistics supplied that women account for 50 per cent of the workforce in export processing zones and only 31 per cent in the country’s production sectors. The Committee urges the Government in its next report to supply statistical information on the distribution of men and women in the various types of activity, broken down by occupational category and remuneration both in the export processing zones and in the country’s production sectors. The Committee repeats its request for information on emoluments paid by employers in all branches of economic activity, focusing in particular on data for the export processing zones and the hotel industry.

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