Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Malawi (Ratification: 1965)

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:

1. The Committee notes the information supplied in the Government's report according to which progress towards removing the potentially discriminatory reference to wages due to women workers from section 5(2) of the Wages (General) Order of 1965 has been delayed, due to the Government's intention to review the principal Act concerning labour using ILO technical assistance. The Committee notes with interest that the Office is currently providing such expertise in the revision of the Labour Relations Act, provisions of which are aimed at giving full effect to the principle of the Convention. The Committee accordingly asks the Government to inform it of developments in the adoption of the new text, and to confirm that the subsequential amendments to the Wages (General) Order are effected once the principal text is in force.

2. The Committee notes the Government's statement that it is currently unable to provide the data on salary scales applicable in the public service, minimum wage rates and actual earnings by gender due to the differences in the number and composition of civil service employees revealed in the records. The Government had accordingly decided to carry out a census of the civil service in May 1995, with a view to establishing the true figure for such staff. It undertakes to provide more reliable data on the civil service in its next report. The Committee welcomes this initiative and looks forward to receiving, in the Government's next report, statistical data which will enable it to assess whether the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value is being promoted in the public service.

3. With regard to the Committee's request for information on the study to have been carried out by the National Commission on Women in Development into women's contribution to formal employment, the Government states that the study has not yet been conducted due to lack of financing. It is, however, still seeking possible donors for this study. The Committee recalls that it is interested in studies of this kind since difficulties in the application of the Convention are often linked to a lack of knowledge of the true situation of remuneration inequalities (paragraph 248 to its 1986 General Survey on equal remuneration). The Committee accordingly would appreciate receiving, in future reports, copies of such research that would throw light on the general remuneration situation of men and women, both in the private and the public sectors.