Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2003, published 92nd ILC session (2004)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Cuba (Ratification: 1954)

1. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report indicating that the national statistical system is working on the inclusion of wages disaggregated by sex. The Committee once again reminds the Government that statistics are valuable in assessing the manner in which the principle of equal remuneration is applied in practice. The Committee hopes that the Government will be able to provide with its next report the following statistics on wages disaggregated by sex: (i) the distribution of men and women at the various wage levels in the different occupational categories for which wage scales are established by resolution No. 476 of 1980; (ii) statistics on minimum wage rates and average earnings for men and women, where possible disaggregated by occupation, economic sector, seniority and skill level, with an indication of the corresponding percentages of women; and (iii) information on the measures adopted to supervise equality of remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value.

2. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee reminds the Government that the principle of equal pay for men and women workers, as set out in section 99 of the Labour Code, refers to "equal work". The Convention requires the use of the "value" of the work as a point of comparison, and therefore inevitably broadens the elements to be taken into consideration, based on equal value, in relation to work which is of a different nature and which cannot, therefore, be considered to be equal work. This distinction is important in relation to sectors in which mainly women are hired and in which the work they do is in many cases undervalued on the basis of stereotypes related to gender. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would envisage the possibility of amending its legislation so as to give full effect to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value.