Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

1. The Committee notes the Government’s reports on the application of the Convention. It also notes the attached report on the career and income situation of women and men submitted to Parliament in April 2002, which summarizes the findings from research done by a group of experts and sets out the Government’s response with regard to these findings.

2. The Committee notes that in 1997 women overall earned 75.8 per cent of the average income of men. For the western Länderthis ratio was 74.8 per cent (2.8 per cent increase since 1977), for the eastern part of the country 93.9 per cent (1.9 per cent increase since 1977). The group of experts referred to above concluded, inter alia, that women had caught up with men with regard to vocational qualification, which led to their increased participation in employment, but that women are still under-represented in technical professions. In addition, women are still occupying significantly fewer management positions and gender income disparities increase with the level of education. The experts also found that the labour market continues to be segregated, women being concentrated in low-income sectors with few career opportunities.

3. The Committee notes the various measures taken or envisaged by the Government with regard to closing the gender wage gap as outlined in its response to the experts’ report. It particularly notes the plans for stepping up vocational guidance, the efforts to promote women’s opportunities in IT-related employment, and the measures to assist and encourage both men and women to combine work and family responsibilities. The Government is asked to continue to provide information on the implementation of these and other measures to promote equal remuneration as outlined in the report on the career and income situation of women and men and envisaged under the programme Frau und Beruf adopted in 1999.

4. The Committee notes that the abovementioned group of experts also concluded that to some extent existing wage disparities may be caused by discriminatory determination of wages in collective agreements and at the enterprise level, due to the under-rating of jobs in sectors in which women are concentrated. In this regard, the Committee notes the various initiatives undertaken or supported by the Government to promote equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, including a project comparing collective agreements in the retail industry in Germany, United Kingdom and Austria with regard to pay rate policies. The Committee also notes that the public sector unions and employers are examining collective agreements with regard to indirect discrimination and that during 2002 this issue will also be discussed when the collective agreement for federal public employees is being updated. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of these and other initiatives to promote equal pay through objective appraisal of jobs in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee also asks the Government to indicate whether and to what extent wage categories for "light physical tasks" are still being used in collective agreements.

5. Noting that up-dated statistical information for 2001 will become available in 2003, the Committee invites the Government to submit such information with its next report, indicating the levels of remuneration of men and women in the private and public sectors as outlined in the 1998 general observation on the Convention. Please also provide any court decisions raising matters of principle relating to the application of the Convention.