Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1964)

Occupational segregation and gender wage gap. The Committee notes that, according to the Government’s report, 3,293 men and 1,490 women were recruited in the private sector between January and April 2013. The Government adds that the economic activity rate of women in 2013 was 54.6 per cent in urban areas and 47.2 per cent in rural areas, while the participation rate of men was 70.6 per cent and 78.3 per cent, respectively. The Government also indicates that 20 per cent of women workers are domestic employees. According to the 2013 Permanent Household Survey, the average monthly income of women was equivalent to 74.84 per cent of that of men, while the percentage in 2012 was 72.8 per cent. Although there is a decrease in the existing wage gap, the Committee observes that the Government has not provided specific information on the measures adopted with a view to pursuing its further reduction. The Committee recalls that pay differentials remain one of the most persistent forms of inequality between women and men. These differentials are due, among other reasons, to the persistent occupational segregation of men and women into specific sectors and occupations. The persistence of this disparity requires that governments, along with employers’ and workers’ organizations, take proactive measures to raise awareness, evaluate, and promote and enforce the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and to improve the access of women to a broader range of employment opportunities at all levels and in all sectors (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraphs 668, 669 and 713). The Committee requests the Government to provide specific information on the measures adopted with a view to reducing the existing wage gap, and on the measures intended to increase the participation of women in all economic sectors, and particularly in those in which they are under-represented. The information should also cover the measures adopted in this regard within the context of the National Plan for Equality of Opportunity between Women and Men 2008–17. The Committee also requests the Government to provide specific information on the particular situation of rural women workers and those in the informal economy.

Article 3 of the Convention. Objective appraisal of jobs. The Committee recalls that the concept of “equal value” requires a method for the measurement and comparison of the relative value of different jobs. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which it is intended to undertake the objective appraisal of jobs with a view to giving full effect to the principle of the Convention, and reminds the Government that the technical assistance of the Office is available in this regard.