Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

1. The Committee notes that for several years now, it has been raising similar issues in its comments and that, again this year, the Government’s brief report does not adequately reply to the Committee’s previous requests. In light of this fact, the Committee would like to offer some additional guidance to encourage the Government to prepare reports in the future that will allow the Committee to make a full and fair assessment of the progress made in the application of the Convention.

2. Article 2 of the Convention. Principle of equal remuneration. The Committee notes that the Government continues to repeat that the concept of equal remuneration for work of equal value is enshrined in law and that there is no inequality between men and women since remuneration is attached to jobs, regardless of sex. The Committee wishes to remind the Government that, although forbidding sex-based wage classifications is an important aspect of equal remuneration, the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value as expressed in the Convention extends beyond cases where work is performed in the same establishment, as well as beyond jobs performed by both sexes. In this respect, simply because men and women are paid the same for doing the same work it does not mean that inequality in remuneration does not exist. Discrimination may still arise out of the fact that women are more heavily concentrated in certain jobs and in certain sectors of activity where work is poorly paid in relation to the value of the work performed. For this reason the establishment of objective evaluation systems is important, particularly for occupations in which women predominate compared with those in which men predominate, in order to identify and remedy cases of wage discrimination. This is also why, in applying the principle of the Convention, the comparison between jobs performed by men and women should be as wide as possible, even comparing jobs in different places or enterprises or between different employers. The Committee therefore asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to examine remuneration systematically and to compare those jobs in which men predominate with those in which women predominate, in order to identify and correct instances of pay discrimination.

3. In light of the above, the Committee recalls the importance of gathering data on the position and pay of men and women in all job categories within and between the various sectors in order to address fully the continuing remuneration gap between men and women based on sex. The Committee notes in this regard that the Government is collecting wage statistics disaggregated by sex as part of its national survey on wages in 2006. The Committee again wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the guidance set out in its general observation of 1998, listing the statistical elements that governments are encouraged to gather in order to provide the fullest possible information to help the Committee assess the application of the Convention. It further recalls that the Government may request, if need be, the technical assistance of the Office regarding the collection of sex-disaggregated statistics. The Committee looks forward to receiving the results of the 2006 national survey on wages and welcomes any additional information including research documentation and reports related to this work.

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