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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1987)

The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report and the attached legislation and documentation.

1. Further to its observation, the Committee notes that according to section 7(4) of the new Equal Pay Act of 2002 collective agreements, individual contracts or internal company regulations that are contrary to the provisions of the Act shall be repealed, and that within three months of its entry into force, the competent authority must invite the social partners to examine the existing provisions of the collective agreements, in order to amend them if found contrary to the law (section 8(1)). The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the practical application of this provision and the results achieved.

2. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Act on Equal Treatment for Men and Women in Employment and Vocational Training (Law (205(I)/2002), which came into force in January 2003. It notes that the Act provides for the establishment of a Gender Equality Committee with an advisory role and supervisory role with respect to the implementation of the new Act. Noting also that the Gender Equality Committee can initiate and receive complaints, which it will forward to the chief inspector handling the case, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the practical application and enforcement of the Act and to indicate the number of cases handled by the Gender Equality Committee concerning equal pay and the results achieved.

3. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that pay differentials in recent years have stabilized and that - with the exception of a widening in 1999 - the long-term trend of pay differentials is expected to continue to reduce. It further notes that while the gap between male and female employment rates is decreasing, women are still concentrated in the services sector (83 per cent) and that 27 per cent of women are employed as managers, professionals and technicians. The Committee notes the various measures taken by the Government to promote equality of opportunity and treatment of women in the labour market, and asks the Government to provide information on their impact on reducing the wage gap between men and women and to continue to provide statistical data on the pay differentials between men and women, in accordance with its general observation of 1998.