Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Malawi (Ratification: 1965)

1. Article 1 of the Convention. Sexual harassment. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that sexual harassment in employment is prohibited through laws and covers both quid pro quo as well as hostile environment sexual harassment. It also notes the additional information provided with respect to the wide scope of protection and the fact that every organization has its own administrative mechanism for addressing sexual harassment in line with the laws of the country, the nationwide awareness-raising measures on sexual harassment, and the cooperation between employers’ and workers’ organizations to address the issue through policies and collective agreements. The Committee requests the Government to provide the following:

(a)  copies (with its next report) of the laws and regulations providing for the abovementioned protection against sexual harassment, as well as information on their application in practice;

(b)  further details on the abovementioned administrative mechanisms for addressing sexual harassment and information on the number of sexual harassment cases that have been handled through these mechanisms or through the courts or that have been reported by the labour inspectorate, including the remedies provided; and

(c)  copies of policies and collective agreements through which employers’ and workers’ organizations have addressed sexual harassment.

2. Scope of protection (self-employed persons, domestic workers and members of the armed forced, the prison service and the police). Further to its previous observation regarding the exclusion of self-employed persons from the protection of the Employment Act, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that it is difficult to address discrimination for self-employed persons because they own their own businesses. The Committee recalls that the Convention aims to protect men and women who wish to engage in self-employed occupations against laws, regulations or practices that prevent them from doing so based on the grounds set forth in Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to prohibit and suppress discrimination against men and women who wish to enter into self-employed occupations, including information on measures to ensure equal opportunity and treatment with respect to access to services and facilities necessary for them to enter into self-employed occupations.

3. The Committee further notes that, according to the Government, no discrimination has been detected with regard to domestic workers and members of the armed forces, the prison service and the police, due to the fact that, in these cases, the merit procedures regarding recruitment, promotion, dismissal or any other disciplinary action, are being respected. The Committee requests the Government to provide copies of the laws and regulations governing the employment of domestic workers, members of the armed forces, the prison service and the police; and statistical information, disaggregated by sex, on the number of men and women who are engaged in the abovementioned occupations, as well as their corresponding level of employment.

4. Equal access to vocational training. Further to its observation, the Committee notes from the statistics on vocational training for the academic year 2004 that a number of women have enrolled in such courses as motor vehicle mechanics (33 per cent) carpentry and joinery (29 per cent), bricklaying (25.8 per cent) and welding (60 per cent). While welcoming these trends, the Committee also notes that women continue to be concentrated in stereotyped fields of study such as secretarial and bookkeeping. The Committee recalls the Government’s recognition under the National Gender Policy 2000-05 that the lack of career guidance has perpetuated women’s choices of traditionally female professions. The Committee requests the Government to provide:

(a)  information on measures taken or envisaged, including through career guidance, aimed at further encouraging women to consider training which is less traditionally or typically "female", as well as any other measures taken to correct de facto inequalities in education with a view to enhancing women’s access to productive employment and skills development; and

(b)  statistical data on the number of women who have entered non-traditional occupations as a result of their participation in the abovementioned training courses.

5. Article 3. Cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that employers’ and workers’ organizations monitor the provisions of the Employment Act (2000) and the national policy on equality of opportunity and treatment. It requests the Government to provide additional details on the manner in which the employers’ and workers’ organizations engage in these monitoring activities, and advocate the correction of practices regarded as in conflict with the Act and the national policy on equality, including the results achieved.

6. Parts III and V of the report form. Practical application and enforcement. The Committee reiterates its request to the Government to provide information on the measures taken to promote the application of the Employment Act (2000), through public awareness campaigns or otherwise, with respect to the grounds of discrimination set forth in the Act. Please also include information on the manner in which the labour inspectorate is ensuring the application of the Act as well as information on any decisions taken by courts of law or tribunals involving questions of principle related to the application of the Convention, including the remedies provided.

7. The Committee notes that the report of the Law Reform Commission is still under review and the Government will send a copy of the report as soon as it is available.