Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government's report as well as the annexed statistical data.

1. Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes from the Government's report that the disparity in wage levels in the public service is due to the fact that men occupy more highly paid posts. It also notes that some women have obtained management-level posts. It recalls that to overcome both vertical and horizontal segregation at work, the adoption of legislation alone on equal remuneration does not suffice: active measures are required, such as programmes to change women's perspectives and prepare them to seek more highly-paid posts and occupations, which aim to change historical conceptions as to the role of women in society and in the labour market, since these may lead to indirect discrimination. The Committee would like to know whether such programmes exist within the public service. The Committee would like to know the criteria used in job classification in the public administration and requests a copy of this classification, with corresponding wage levels. It also requests information on the methods and criteria used to fix wage scales in the public sector and the measures adopted to eliminate sexist stereotyping from the system.

2. The Committee notes with satisfaction the full statistical data disaggregated by sex, annexed to the report. This has made certain comparisons possible. The statistics supplied on the total working population for normal weekly working hours, broken down by monthly wage levels and sex for September 1996, presents a picture similar to that pertaining in the public service, where, as indicated, a small number of women hold higher positions, but in general women receive significantly lower remuneration than men, and this holds true for all hourly categories. Women represent 34 per cent of the total working population, but receive approximately 29 per cent of total wages. By analysing the distribution of men and women according to wage level, the Committee notes that of workers in the lowest wage bracket, 100 lempiras or less, 67.91 per cent are women, while the two highest brackets yield the following distribution by sex: out of workers earning 7,500 to 10.000 lempiras only 19.53 per cent are women, while in the 10,000 lempiras or more category, only 15.69 per cent are women. In the same way, daily wage rates disaggregated by occupation and sex reveal wage differentials in, for example, personal, social and communal services. For Tegucigalpa in 1997, for the category of accountants, the most frequent wage for men was 283.33 lempiras and for women it was 131.50 lempiras. As the Committee has already noted on other occasions, much of the difficulty in giving real effect to the principle of equal remuneration is closely linked to the situation of men and women at work and in society and it refers to the measures to facilitate the application of the Convention explained in paragraphs 180 to 198 of its 1986 General Survey. The Committee requests that the Government continue to supply disaggregated statistical information as called for in the Committee's 1998 general observation, including information concerning export processing zones (Maquila).

3. Article 3. The Committee notes the information on the methods used to carry out an objective evaluation of jobs to establish different wage rates. The Committee refers to paragraphs 138 to 152 of the abovementioned General Survey and requests information on whether there are methods for objective evaluation of jobs as set forth in the abovementioned paragraphs, as well as other available relevant information.