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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Ghana (Ratification: 1968)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

1. Article 1(b) of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee notes that section 68 of the new Labour Act provides that "every worker shall receive equal pay for equal work without distinction of any kind." The Committee considers that the term "equal pay for equal work" does not necessarily guarantee a field of comparison as wide as the term "equal pay for work of equal value" (see General Survey on equal remuneration, 1986, paragraph 34). The Committee asks the Government to provide information in its next report on the application of section 68 in practice to determine whether this provision is interpreted in the sense of the principle of "equal pay for work of equal value". The Committee also requests clarification of the status of section 68 of the 1969 Labour Regulations (LI 632), discussed in previous comments, following adoption of the new Labour Act.

2. Article 2(1). Promotion of the principle of equal remuneration. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that the Government’s gender strategy and affirmative action policy implicitly promotes both equality of rights for women in employment and equal remuneration. The Committee recognizes that such policies have an important indirect impact on equalizing remuneration levels between men and women. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the progress made in implementing this policy and to provide information indicating the nature and extent of the impact of the policy in promoting the principle of the Convention. It further asks the Government to indicate the action taken by the National Commission on Women and Development which would directly or indirectly promote application of the Convention.

3. Article 2(2)(c). Collective agreements. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken by the National Advisory Committee on Labour to prohibit the use of gender discriminatory language in collective bargaining agreements and it reiterates its request for the Government to supply copies of any recently negotiated collective agreements, particularly those applying to enterprises and industries in which earlier agreements contained gender discriminatory provisions and language.

4. Article 3. Objective evaluation of jobs. The Committee reiterates its request for information on the methods and criteria used for classifying jobs in the public and private sector, noting that the Government omitted to include with its report a job classification study that it had commissioned for the public sector. The Committee recalls that Article 3(1) of the Convention calls for measures to be taken to promote an objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed, where such action would assist in giving effect to the provisions of the Convention. Further, the notion of equal remuneration of men and women for work of equal value necessarily implies the adoption of some technique to measure and compare objectively the relative value of the jobs performed. Such techniques known as "job evaluation" have come to be considered the most feasible means of extending equal remuneration to men and women for work of equal value (see General Survey, op. cit., 1986, paragraph 138). The Committee notes from the Government’s report that the Ghana Employers’ Association has not undertaken a job classification exercise in the private sector. It asks the Government to provide information on any action it has taken nevertheless to promote an objective appraisal of jobs in the private sector.

5. Part V of the report form. Statistical information. The Committee would welcome all available information from the Government indicating the distribution of men and women in the public and private sectors, occupational groups and earnings in accordance with its general observation on the importance of statistical data to assist the Committee in evaluating application by the Government of the principle of equal remuneration.