Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 82nd ILC session (1995)

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

The Committee notes the Government's report.

1. The Committee notes that the draft new Labour Code will be adopted very shortly and that the Government will not fail to provide a copy of it once it has been promulgated.

2. The Committee notes the National Strategy for Women which was adopted following the national conference on the subject held in Amman in June 1993, the text of which was sent by the Government. Further to its previous comments, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the activities of the National Committee for Women, recently created, particularly concerning the implementation of development plans to increase women's participation in social, economic and political life. In its previous comments on this matter, the Committee considered that the women's participation rate in vocational training programmes was very low and that the training provided was mostly for activities traditionally carried out by women, with a marked increase between 1986 and 1989 in the industrial tailoring, pottery and copperwork sectors, and in the maintenance of office equipment.

With particular regard to implementation of the National Strategy, the Committee requests information on the specific measures which may have already been taken to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women in employment. For example, in Chapter 2 (Component elements of the National Strategy for Women): the comprehensive study of laws and regulations envisaged in paragraph 1 under the heading "The field of legislation (A)"; the measures taken to increase women's participation in employment and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them in all the economic sectors, as envisaged in paragraph 1 of Objectives under the heading "The field of economics (C)"; and the various measures under the heading "The educational field (E)" to enable women to have access to skilled jobs. In addition, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would inform it of the results of the activities implemented under Chapter 3 (Implementation machinery), for example by providing information on the annual executive plan of work prepared by the National Committee for Women (paragraph 3) and the two-yearly assessment of the plans and achievements (paragraph 5).

The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would provide information, including statistics, on women's access to employment in particular occupations.

3. Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government's statement in its report that its previous request for information was unwarranted since the principles of equality are laid down in article 6 of the Constitution. The Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that an assertion of general principles of equality before the law may be part of the national policy to promote equality provided for in Article 2 of the Convention, but does not, on its own, amount to such a policy within the meaning of the Convention.

The Committee reminds the Government that, under these provisions of the Convention, it must "undertake to declare and pursue a national policy designed to promote, by methods appropriate to national conditions and practice, equality of opportunity and treatment in respect of employment and occupation, with a view to eliminating any discrimination in respect thereof" on the grounds referred to in Article 1. Consequently, the Committee urges the Government in its next report to provide information on any measures taken to ensure effective promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment, regardless of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, and on the results obtained particularly with regard to:

(a) access to vocational training;

(b) access to employment and particular occupations;

(c) terms and conditions of employment, and more specifically the measures taken to promote equality of opportunity and treatment:

(i) in employment, vocational training and vocational guidance coming directly under the Government's authority;

(ii) by the legislation and educational programmes;

(iii) with the cooperation of employers' and workers' organizations and other appropriate bodies, particularly as regards employment in the private sector and areas not covered by collective agreements.