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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - India (Ratification: 1958)

Further to its observation, the Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report and the attached information and statistics.

1. The Committee notes the detailed statistical information on the average wages/salary earnings per day for rural and urban men and women by sector and education category for the period 1999-2000. It notes that while in rural areas women’s daily earnings amount to 89.5 per cent of men’s, significant wage disparities exist between illiterate men and women (56.6 per cent) and men and women graduates (72.38 per cent), especially those in the agricultural sector. The wage gap between men and women is slightly wider (with women’s average daily earnings being 82.64 per cent of men’s) in urban areas and is particularly wide for the illiterate (with women’s average daily earnings being 59.1 per cent of men’s) and literate up to the middle education categories (with women’s average earnings being 61.2 per cent of men’s); again with significant wage disparities for the agricultural sector. The Committee also notes in particular the wage differences that exist in both rural and urban areas between men and women engaged in private households (where rural women’s average earnings are 66 per cent of those of men’s and urban women’s average earnings 47 per cent of those of men’s). Furthermore, from the statistics provided on the wages rates of male and female casual labourers, the Committee notes that casual women workers engaged in public works earn only 79.06 per cent of what men earn and that for those engaged in other than public works, the average daily earnings for women casual workers are 88.4 per cent of men’s in rural areas and only 60.5 per cent in urban areas. The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the action taken or contemplated to diminish the wage gap between men and women in the illiterate and graduate education categories in rural areas and in illiterate and middle level education categories in urban areas. Please also provide information on any action taken to address the wage disparities between male and female casual workers, especially those engaged in non-public work in urban areas.

2. With regard to the narrow scope of section 4 of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976, which requires employers to pay equal remuneration to men and women for the same work or work of a similar nature, the Committee notes that the Government indicates that it would not be practical at this stage to expand the scope of this provision. However, the Committee notes that, based on the recommendations of the 2nd National Labour Commission, the Government is considering for adoption a comprehensive draft law on wages merging the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the Payment of Wages Act, and the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. Referring to its previous comments, it hopes that this time the new act on wages will include a provision that goes beyond a reference to the "same" or "similar" work, choosing instead the "value" of the work as a point of comparison, and asks the Government to provide a copy of the act, once it is adopted.

3. Referring to its previous request for information on the activities carried out under the grants-aid scheme of the Women Cell of the Ministry of Labour and by the Central Advisory Committee, the Committee notes that, except for the Government’s statement that the Central Advisory Committee has taken a number of meaningful decisions to explore new avenues to generate women’s employment, the Government’s report does not provide any further information on this matter. The Committee is therefore bound to repeat its previous request for information on the activities carried out by these organizations and hopes that the Government’s next report will contain full information on this matter.

4. Noting that the Government’s report does not contain a reply on the following matter, the Committee has to reiterate its previous request to the Government to provide information on the manner in which the activities of the women’s cells set up by some state governments are undertaken and how they assist in implementing the Convention.

5. Please continue to provide information on any complaints that have been submitted by the voluntary organizations authorized by the central and state governments to bring equal pay complaints under section 12(2) of the Equal Remuneration Act and on the outcomes of any such complaints.