Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 1991, publiée 78ème session CIT (1991)

Further to its previous comments, the Committee takes note of the information supplied by the Government in its report (received too late to be examined at its previous session) in reply to its previous comments.

1. The Committee takes note of the statistical information provided by the Government, which reveals that women account for approximately 35.40 per cent of total employees and are concentrated, in particular, in typing, key/entry, commerce and dressmaking. The Committee takes note of the Government's statement that the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value depends on the way socio-cultural factors develop and on the opportunities for technical and occupational education, whose nature is determined by the fact that the country is a developing one. It is noteworthy, however, that women are already beginning to take up occupations traditionally held by men, but that the lack of statistics makes it impossible to indicate their number. In this connection, the Committee refers to paragraphs 22 and 72 of its General Survey of 1986 on equal remuneration in which it indicates that in spite of the difficulties associated with a broader comparison of jobs, the fact that women workers are more heavily concentrated in certain jobs and in certain sectors of activity has to be taken into account so as to avoid or redress a biased evaluation of qualities traditionally considered as "peculiar to women". The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report the progress made in securing an objective appraisal of jobs in the sectors where women are concentrated, in order to apply the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value.

2. The Committee takes note of section 111(3) of the General Conditions of Employment of Public Servants under which all public employees covered by identical conditions of service are entitled to equal remuneration for equal work. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide the text of the regulations to be issued under the above-mentioned General Conditions of Employment as soon as they are published.