Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Egypt (Ratification: 1960)

Article 1 of the Convention. Work of equal value. For a number of years, the Committee has been pursuing a dialogue with the Government regarding the concept of “work of equal value”. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that sections 35 and 88 of the Labour Law, 2003, prohibited sex discrimination in wages but only referred to “analogous working conditions”. The Committee pointed out that the Labour Law did not fully reflect the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value and had therefore urged the Government to take the necessary measures to give full legislative expression to this principle. The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no information with respect to any envisaged legislative change. It recalls that the equal remuneration provisions of the Labour Law are narrower than the principle as laid down by the Convention, and thus may hinder progress in eradicating gender-based pay discrimination. The Committee, however, notes the Government’s indication that training sessions on the concept of “work of equal value” for the persons concerned, such as the members of the National Wages Council, are envisaged in collaboration with the ILO. The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary steps to amend the relevant provisions of the Labour Law, 2003, so as to provide not only for equal remuneration for men and women for equal, the same or similar work but also to prohibit remuneration discrimination that occurs in situations where men and women perform different work, using different skills and involving different working conditions, that is nevertheless of equal value. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on any training sessions organized on the principle of the Convention for the persons in charge of determining wages as well as any action taken following such training to ensure the full application of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.