Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Italy (Ratification: 1963)

1. With reference to its previous direct request, the Committee has taken note with interest of Act No. 125 of 10 April 1991 on positive action for the attainment of equality between men and women at work, and of its implementing Decrees. The Act aims at promoting the employment of women and establishing equality between men and women at work, in particular through the adoption of measures of positive action to eliminate de facto obstacles to the attainment of equal opportunity. It makes it possible for undertakings and agencies that adopt positive action projects to be reimbursed for certain expenditures incurred through the implementation of such projects; makes it an obligation for private and public undertakings employing more than 100 persons to report every two years on the distribution of men and women on the staff; provides for the establishment in the Ministry of Labour of a National Committee for the Application of the Principles of Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunity for Male and Female Workers; and provides for reversal of the burden of proof borne by the defendant when the plaintiff produces precise and consistent facts such as to warrant the presumption that there is a situation of discrimination on the basis of sex.

The Committee would be grateful if the Government would transmit with its next report information on the implementation of Act No. 125; on the activities of the bodies established by the Act, in particular the National Committee for the Application of the Principles of Equal Treatment and Equal Opportunity for Male and Female Workers; and on the way section 4 (concerning actions at law) has been utilised in practice.

2. The Committee has noted with interest from the information supplied concerning the application of Convention No. 100 that in the course of the latest round of collective bargaining, a number of collective agreements have included special clauses designed to promote equality for women and establishing joint committees to that end. The Committee asks the Government to supply information on the implementation of those clauses in practice and in particular on the activities of the joint committees.

3. The Committee has also noted with interest that a number of collective agreements recently concluded - for example in the footwear, textile and clothing, and leather industries - contain a clause on the personal dignity of the workers which prohibits sexual harassment and prescribes a procedure for dealing with cases of such harassment. The Committee asks the Government to supply, if possible, information on the way such clauses are applied in practice.