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

The Committee notes once again that the Government’s report does not respond to the points made in its previous comments nor does it contain information allowing the Committee to assess the progress made with respect to the application of the Convention. It is obliged, therefore, to repeat its previous comments along with other points as follows:

1. Article 1 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee recalls the Government’s statement that the categories excluded from the application of the General Labour Act No. 2/00 (sections 1(3) and 2) are covered by separate laws. Please provide copies of the relevant laws, as well as any information on the manner in which the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value is applied to these categories of workers, and especially civil servants, casual workers and homeworkers.

2. Article 2. Practical application of the principle of the Convention. The Committee notes from the Government’s report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW/C/AGO/4-5, June 2004) that the majority of women working in the civil service in 2002 (75 per cent) belonged to the administrative and assistance staff. During the same year in the diplomatic corps, only 21 per cent of the positions of responsibility were occupied by women and in the Justice Service only 13 per cent of judges and magistrates were women. Noting as well that men vastly outnumbered women in Angolan political life, the Committee reminds the Government that occupational segregation of women into lower paying jobs or occupations and lower positions without promotion opportunities is one of the causes of pay differentials between men and women. It asks the Government, therefore, to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to address occupational segregation of women in both the public and private sectors and to promote their access to better paid higher status jobs and managerial positions, including the results achieved.

3. Education and training. The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report to the CEDAW, “one of the biggest problems women find in gaining access to decent, well-paying jobs is their low, or non-existent, level of schooling” (CEDAW/C/AGO/1-3, November 2002, page 30). Noting that equal access to education is an area of concern of the Strategic Framework for the Promotion of Gender Equality by the Year 2005, the Committee asks the Government to send information on the measures taken or envisaged to improve access of women and girls to education and training, and the impact of such measures on the promotion of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

4. Article 3. Objective job evaluation. Referring to its previous comments concerning the application of sections 164(2) and 164(3) of the General Labour Act, the Committee must reiterate its request to the Government to provide information regarding the methods of job evaluation used to determine rates of remuneration in the public and private sectors.

5. Part V of the report form. Statistical information. The Committee acknowledges that some countries may not be in a position to provide full statistical information as set out in its 1998 general observation. It points out, however, that it is still necessary for governments to provide the Committee with all the information that is currently available in order to permit an adequate evaluation of the nature, extent and causes of pay differentials between men and women, and the progress achieved in the implementation of the Convention in both the public and private sectors. It therefore again urges the Government to make every effort to collect and communicate, in its next report, whatever information there is available on the following points:

(a)   the most recent wage scales for the public service and similar services, and the distribution of men and women at the various wage levels;

(b)   the most recent statistics on the minimum wage rates and average earnings of men and women, if possible, by occupation, sector of economy (in particular, agriculture, fishing, industry and commerce, in which an increase in the participation rate of women has been noted), and with an indication of the corresponding percentage of men and women;

(c)   the text of collective or other agreements fixing wage levels that are higher than the minimum wage established for the various sectors of the economy, and the distribution of men and women at the various wage levels covered by these agreements; and

(d)   the measures taken or envisaged to monitor the equality of wages.