Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Chile (Ratification: 1971)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap and gender segregation. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide statistical information disaggregated by sex, including on wages by branch of activity and on the measures adopted in the public and private sectors to remedy the gender pay gap and occupational segregation. The Committee notes the various measures adopted by the National Women’s Service (SERNAM), such as awarding the “Iguala-Conciliación” label to workplaces and initiating various programmes to increase women’s participation in the labour market, including “Working Women and Heads of Household”, “Entrepreneurship and Participation”, the “4 to 7 Programme” and “Good Working Practices of Gender Equality”.

The Committee also notes that, according to the January 2016 “Gender and Income” report by the National Statistics Institute of Chile (INE), the pay gap (average monthly wage) fell from 33.2 per cent in 2013, to 29.7 per cent in 2014. Nevertheless, there is still considerable occupational gender segregation, both vertically and horizontally. The Committee observes that, according to the report, the higher the level of education, the wider the pay gap (39.6 per cent at postgraduate level, compared with 15.5 per cent in cases where workers have not had access to education). The Committee observes, furthermore, that the pay gap by occupational level ranges from 21.5 per cent for technicians and middle-level professionals, to 34.6 per cent at the executive and managerial level of public and private enterprises, reaching 40 per cent for low-level officials and craft and trade workers. The Committee observes that the pay gap by branch of activity is considerably greater in some sectors that employ mainly women. For example, in the education sector it stands at 26.2 per cent, in health and social services at 36.3 per cent, and in domestic work at 33.9 per cent. In certain other sectors mainly employing men, the gap is also significant – for example, 31.8 per cent in commerce and 23.1 per cent in manufacturing. In the commercial sector, which employs 16.7 per cent of women and 15.4 per cent of men, the monthly pay gap is 31.8 per cent. The Committee also observes that, according to the INE report of 2015, “Women in Chile and the Labour Market: Women’s Participation Rate and Pay Gaps”, very few women reach high management positions either in public authorities or private enterprises. Only 1.5 per cent of women reach such positions, compared with 3.4 per cent of men.

With regard to occupational segregation, the Committee recalls that, due to deeply rooted attitudes and stereotypes regarding women’s aspirations, preferences and capabilities, certain jobs are held predominantly or exclusively by women and others by men, and often “female” jobs are undervalued when wage rates are determined. The concept of “work of equal value” is therefore fundamental to ending occupational segregation (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 673 and 713). The Committee requests the Government to continue taking measures to reduce and eliminate the significant pay gap that exists between men and women, and to grant women improved access to a greater variety of employment opportunities at all levels, including in those sectors which mainly employ men. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing up-to-date statistical data disaggregated by sex, including on wages by branch of activity and sector, as well as any other information that demonstrates the effectiveness of and results achieved by the measures adopted to reduce the pay gap between men and women.

Article 3. Objective appraisal of jobs. Observing that the Government has not provided information on this subject, the Committee once again requests the Government to indicate which measures have been provided for or adopted in order to promote the objective appraisal of jobs, in accordance with Article 3 of the Convention, other than the requirement to draft a job description of posts in enterprises with over 200 employees, as provided for in Act No. 20348 of 2009.