Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Spain (Ratification: 1967)

1. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of Royal Legislative Decree No. 5/2000, which categorizes as a very serious offence any discrimination on grounds of sex by employers in relation to remuneration, and establishes fines to discourage such practices. The Committee asks the Government to indicate in its next report the manner in which this provision promotes the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value. The Committee would also be grateful if the Government would provide information in its next report on the penalties imposed under Royal Legislative Decree No. 5/2000 for discriminatory practices on grounds of sex.

2. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged to prevent indirect discrimination which might arise from the classification and appraisal of jobs in collective agreements. The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government in its report indicating that the Institute for Women combats all types of employment discrimination on grounds of sex, both direct and indirect, and that in collaboration with the equality bodies of the autonomous communities and the women’s secretariats of the most representative trade unions at the local and national levels, training days for negotiators of collective agreements have been held on equality to increase their capacity to recognize discriminatory clauses in the texts of the respective agreements. The Committee also notes that the Institute has organized training days for trade unions, judges, prosecutors and labour inspectors to raise awareness of national and community provisions relating to wage discrimination between men and women, and that in 2000 it issued the publications "Guide to good practice to ensure equal remuneration" and "Tools to eliminate wage discrimination". The Committee asks the Government to provide the Office with copies of the above publications with its next report. In this respect, the Committee also notes that the Institute for Women is promoting the ISOS Project on wage differences between men and women and on job appraisal. The Committee asks the Government to provide the Office with information in its next report on any progress made in the context of the above project. The Committee also repeats the request to the Government made in its previous comment to attach copies to its next report of collective agreements containing provisions on wage structures (section 26(3) of the Workers’ Statute).

3. The Committee notes the concern expressed by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1999 (A/54/38, paragraphs 236-277) at the situation of Spanish women in the labour market, and particularly the fact that women continue to be insufficiently represented in jobs corresponding to their educational level, and that on average women earn approximately 30 per cent less than men. In its previous comment, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on the progress achieved under the Third Plan for Equality of Opportunity and Treatment between Men and Women, 1997-2000, in collaboration with workers’ and employers’ organizations and in the establishment of strategies with the relevant government officials to guarantee the effective application of the right to equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value. The Committee notes the Government’s reply in its last report, in which it indicates that the difference between the monthly income of men and women fell from 26.8 per cent in 1996 to 24.59 per cent in 2000. The Committee notes that, according to the statistics issued by the European Industrial Relations Observatory (EIRO), the difference between the hourly income of women and men fell from 25.1 per cent in 1996 to 23.1 per cent in 2000. The Committee also notes that, according to the statistical data compiled by the Institute for Women, the average monthly earnings of women workers in 2000 did not attain the level of 65 per cent of those of men in the Autonomous Communities of Aragón, Asturias, Castilla la Mancha, Castilla León and Murcia. The Committee notes that, according to the statistics, wage discrimination occurs in all sectors of activity and in all occupational categories. The Committee considers that the wage gap between men and women is still substantial and trusts that the Government will continue to provide information in its next report on the measures adopted or envisaged to continue reducing it. It also asks the Government to provide information on the measures that are being adopted to prevent both horizontal and vertical occupational segregation by sex. Furthermore, the Committee trusts that the Government will provide detailed information in its next report on the progress achieved, together with the social partners, in improving the employment stability of women and the wage conditions of part-time women workers.

4. The Committee notes once again that the statistics on wage increases provided by the Government are not disaggregated by gender. The Committee therefore asks it to provide the fullest possible up-to-date statistics disaggregated by sex, taking into account the contents of its 1998 general observation. The Committee asks the Government to ensure that the statistics provided include data on sectors in which there is a clear concentration of women workers (public administration, education, social services, domestic service and small enterprises, among others).

5. The Committee notes with interest the judicial decisions attached to the Government’s report related to the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers of work of equal value. The Committee notes that in some of the rulings attached to the Government’s report, reference is made to the suspicious nature of evaluation criteria such as physical strength which, being a predominantly male quality, does not permit objective evaluation and could provide an unjustified advantage to men. In the attached jurisprudence, the use of physical force is admitted, although in a restricted manner and subject to the dual condition that this factor is not an essential element in the work to be performed, and that job evaluations do not take strength into account as the sole criterion for appraisal, but that it must be combined with other objective characteristics affecting both men and women. Recalling that in general the jobs performed by women tend to be undervalued, the Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures adopted or envisaged for the appraisal of jobs based on objective criteria such as responsibility, strength, dexterity, the skills of men and women workers and the working environment. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the results of any initiative that is taken.

6. The Committee notes with interest the various publications by the Women’s Confederal Secretariat of the Trade Union Federation of Workers’ Commissions provided with the report, which include: a guide on good practice for job appraisal, covering trade union action on discrimination in remuneration (Prisma Project); a manual for the examination of agreements from the gender perspective (Codex Project); a code of practice for the neutral application of occupational classifications, including a report summarizing the research (Codex Project); and a study on "Employment and wage discrimination: An analysis from the gender perspective".