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The Committee notes the comments submitted by the Single Confederation of Workers of Peru (CUT) of 25 August 2010, which refer in particular to the adoption of various legal provisions which could result in indirect discrimination, namely: the Act on the promotion of the competitiveness, formalization and development of micro and small enterprises and access to decent work (Legislative Decree No. 1086); the Act approving the standards for the promotion of the agricultural sector (Act No. 27360); the Act establishing the new administrative services contract (Legislative Decree No. 1057); and the Domestic Workers Act No. 27986 which excludes the workers covered by that Act from certain benefits. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that not all inequalities necessarily constitute discrimination and that the schemes mentioned can be justified objectively and reasonably by the need to improve the regulatory framework, modernize the State and promote employment in small and medium-sized enterprises and that, in the case of domestic workers, the Act concerned aims to integrate these workers into the market. In order to assess the legal provisions mentioned in light of the provisions of the Convention, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of these provisions and their impact in practice.

Equality between men and women at work. Policies, plans, programmes and application. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the implementation of the measures adopted, in particular on indicators and statistics, and on any new measures adopted under the Act on equal opportunities between men and women (Act No. 28983 of 2007), as well as on the participation of the social partners in the development and implementation of those measures. In this regard, the Committee notes the comments of the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL) of 12 November 2010, transmitted by the Government, referring to the limited implementation of the Act on equal opportunities between men and women, which means that an assessment cannot be made of compliance with that Act. The Committee notes that the Government provides information on ministerial resolutions establishing compulsory indicators and targets in areas such as equality between men and women. In this regard, it indicates that 60 per cent of sectors have adopted or planned action in this area, including in particular: (1) action to strengthen the presence of women in managerial and decision-making positions; (2) measures relating to sexual harassment; and (3) measures on gender quotas. To date, 11 regional plans on equal opportunities between men and women have been adopted. In addition, Deputy Ministerial resolution No. 003-2009-IN-0103 was adopted by the Ministry of the Interior establishing the Observatory for Equal Opportunities between Men and Women and Ministerial resolution No. 052-2009-MIMDES was adopted by the Ministry for Women and Social Development issuing guidelines on the use of inclusive language. The Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of the Interior and contain bodies in the agricultural sector have drawn up plans and adopted measures on gender. In accordance with Directive No. 001-2008-IN-0908 of the Ministry of the Interior, which provides that women shall occupy no less than 25 per cent of managerial posts in the non-police state sector, the Government indicates that 41 of the 111 managerial posts are occupied by women, 19 per cent of the workforce of the police is composed of women and three women are in charge of police stations. The Government also includes statistics from the ministries and offices of the State. In the private sector, the “Building Peru” programme of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion, has helped 100,000 women to gain access to temporary employment and training, projects involving women have been funded and enterprises managed by women have been established. The Government adds that the Working Group with Civil Society established on 31 May 2006 constitutes a forum for dialogue and collaboration between the State and civil society for the purposes of implementing and monitoring the National Plan on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men 2006–10, as well as the Act on equal opportunities. In this regard, the Committee notes from the information provided by the Government that, although some progress has been made, the participation of women in the public sector continues to be considerably lower than that of men. The Committee notes that the Government provides no information on the system of monitoring and following up on the Plan on Equal Opportunities between Men and Women or the Statistics Plan 2008–12 and the gender-based indicators established by the National Institute of Statistics and Computing, which were noted by the Committee in its previous observation and which would give a clearer picture of developments relating to gender equality in the country. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation and results of the system to follow up and monitor the Plan on Equal Opportunities and on the gender-based indicators, as well as on the reports prepared by the Observatory for Equal Opportunities between Women and Men of the Ministry of the Interior. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the National Plan and the regional plans on equal opportunities and their impact in practice in both the public and private sectors. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide its response to the comments of the Chamber of Commerce of Lima (CCL) and to continue taking the necessary measures to increase the participation of women in employment in both the public and private sectors.

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