Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

The Committee notes with interest the detailed information contained in the Government's report and in the attached documents.

1. In reply to previous comments on the disparity in the application of Act No. 903 of 9 December 1977 between the regions of the north and south of the country, the Government indicates that the Act has had a profound impact on the situation of women in the southern regions. Discrimination as regards wages based directly on sex has practically disappeared, although it is noteworthy that the sectors of activity where the average wage is lowest are those in which there are a majority of women workers. The Government indicates that it has addressed this question and the problem of clandestine work in the specific regulations respecting home work (the widespread form traditionally taken by clandestine work) and all the provisions of the labour legislation to protect workers. The Committee requests the Government to continue to supply information on the practical measures that have been adopted in order to ensure the application of the principle set out in the Convention in sectors where women are in a majority and on the impact of measures to combat clandestine work in this respect.

2. The Committee notes with interest the information compiled by the National Committee for Equality in the publication "Women and Work", particularly with regard to the application of the principle of equality of remuneration. This publication indicates that the principle of the right of women to the same wages for the same work or for work of equal value, guaranteed by section 37(1) of the Constitution and by section 2 of Act No. 903, is generally respected. However, information on the wage differences between men and women and on occupational segregation on grounds of sex indicate that discrimination continues to affect promotion, mobility between jobs and duties and progress in careers. The National Committee for Equality stressed the difficulty of combating this type of discrimination, for which remedies through the courts are not readily available. It pointed out that the trend in the case-law is to require the victim to prove that the employer's decision was founded on an intention to discriminate, even though the decision has all the appearances of a violation of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women.

The Committee points out that, when the Convention refers to rates of remuneration established without discrimination based on sex, it is referring not only to cases of open discrimination but also to cases in which apparently objective grounds are, either explicitly or implicitly, applied with reference to the sex of the worker, irrespective of the intention of their author. It requests the Government to indicate the measures that have been taken or are envisaged in order to give effect to the Convention in this respect.

3. The Committee notes Order No. 394 of the Council of State, dated 6 June 1983, which was transmitted by the Government. By virtue of this Order, the duties assigned to female staff in the police force, which are enumerated in section 2 of Act No. 1083 of 7 December 1959, are not identical to those of the male staff; as a result, despite the coming into force successively of Act No. 903 of 9 December 1977 and Act No. 312 of 11 July 1980, the special service allowance and the special public safety allowance are paid at a lower rate to female inspectors and auxiliaries. The Government indicates that the problem of the difference in duties assigned to men and women in the police force has been rectified by the adoption of Act No. 121 of 1 April 1981 respecting the new Regulations of the Public Safety Administration.

The Committee requests the Government to continue supplying information on the measures that have been adopted in order to give effect to the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value to all the components of remuneration.