Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

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 continue taking measures to reduce and eliminate the significant pay gap that exists between men and women, and to improve women’s access to a greater variety of employment opportunities at all levels, including in those sectors which mainly employ men. The Committee also requested 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 demonstrated the effectiveness of and results achieved by the measures adopted to reduce the pay gap between men and women. The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report on various initiatives it has carried out, mainly through the Ministry for Women and Gender Equality and the National Service for Women and Gender Equality, with a view to reducing the pay gap and improving women’s access to a greater variety of employment opportunities, including the Working Women and Heads of Household Programme, 4 to 7 Programme, Entrepreneurship and Participation Programme, and the National Office for Good Working Practices for Women in Mining. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that in 2015 it signed a Protocol Agreement with the National Association of Fiscal Employees (ANEF), which provided for an analysis and a pilot test to explore the applicability of a methodology to assess jobs with a gender perspective, proposed by the ILO. The Government also refers to the adoption of Act No. 20940, published on 21 November 2016, section 317 of which provides that the trade unions of large enterprises may request information once a year on the remuneration of men and women workers in different posts and functions. In medium-sized enterprises, trade unions may request such information prior to collective bargaining. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that various sources of information exist for statistics on the gender pay gap and that currently the Office of the Undersecretary for Labour has three sources, namely: (i) the Labour Information System (SIL), which provides administrative statistics on persons contributing to unemployment insurance, i.e. only those employment relations governed by the Labour Code, excluding, inter alia, domestic workers, the armed forces and young persons under 18 years old; (ii) the Additional Salary Survey (ESI), a complementary module carried out within the current National Employment Survey (ENE) which compiles information on the employment income of persons classified as employed in the ENE and household income from other sources, at both national and regional level; and (iii) the National Socio-Economic Characterization Survey (CASEN), conducted by the Ministry for Social Development. The Committee therefore notes the various statistical information provided by the Government according to these different sources. According to SIL data, in 2018, the gender pay gap is 17.2 per cent, which is the same as the equivalent period in 2017. With respect to the ESI, the latest data from 2016 show that the gender pay gap was 31.7 per cent for average monthly income of all employed persons. With respect to the pay gap by branch of activity, the greatest inequality is found in the health and social services with a gap of 49.8 per cent, followed by manufacturing and commercial activities, which both have a gap of 46.5 per cent. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on measures adopted or planned to reduce and eliminate the pay gap between men and women, and encourages it to monitor and evaluate the impact of those measures and to provide specific information in that respect. It also requests the Government to continue providing statistical data disaggregated by sex 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. The Committee also refers to its comments on the application of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111).

Article 3. Objective appraisal of jobs. In its previous comments, the Committee requested 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. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that section 62bis of the Labour Code, which requires employers to comply with the principle of equal remuneration for men and women who perform the same work, with objective wage differences based, among other grounds, on capacity, competence, qualities, responsibility and productivity, not being considered arbitrary, has not been effective in regulating the existing pay gap between men and women. The Government refers to the draft law to amend the Labour Code, currently undergoing its second constitutional reading in the House of Representatives, aimed at incorporating the principle of the Convention ensuring equal remuneration for men and women for work of “equal value”, to which the Committee refers in its observation. The Government also adds that the Gender Parity Initiative, which proposes, inter alia, to highlight and reduce pay gaps by gender variables, was kept in the Government Programme 2018–22. The Committee recalls that the concept of “equal value”, which lies at the heart of the fundamental right of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, enshrined in the Convention, requires some method of measuring and comparing the relative value of different jobs. There needs to be an examination of the respective tasks involved (and not an evaluation of the titles of these positions), undertaken on the basis of entirely objective and non-discriminatory criteria to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. While the Convention does not prescribe any specific method for such an examination, Article 3 presupposes the use of appropriate techniques for objective job evaluation, comparing factors such as skill, effort, responsibilities and working conditions. The concept of “work of equal value” is fundamental to tackling occupational sex segregation in the labour market, as it permits a broad scope of comparison, including, but going beyond equal remuneration for “equal”, “the same” or “similar” work, and also encompasses work that is of an entirely different nature, which is nevertheless of equal value (see the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 695 and 673). The Committee requests the Government to take measures to establish a mechanism for the objective evaluation of jobs with a gender perspective that enables a comparison of different jobs in the public sector and to promote such evaluation in the private sector, and to report on any developments in that respect.