Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Eswatini (Ratification: 1981)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Addressing the gender pay gap. Referring to its previous comments on the existence of a large gender wage gap in industries with higher compensation and the concentration of women in low-paid jobs in the informal economy, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that several policy measures have been adopted to promote gender equality and afford women increased opportunities, in particular in the framework of the Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (PRSAP) of 2006, as well as the draft Strategy for Sustainable Development and Inclusive Growth of 2016. However, the Government indicates also that, some of these measures are still at their early stages, due to resource constraints. In addition to the information highlighted in its direct request under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), the Committee notes that, according to its last Labour Force Survey (2013–14), women employed in the same occupational groups than men only received, on average, 60 per cent of men’s median monthly earnings. In light of the substantial wage disparities between men and women in all occupational categories and the lack of legislation that fully reflects the principle of the Convention, the Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to take proactive measures, including in collaboration with employers and workers’ organizations, to raise awareness, monitor, promote and enforce the application of the Convention. While noting the resource constraints, it asks the Government to take measures to address the gender pay gap by identifying and addressing the underlying causes of pay differentials, such as vertical and horizontal job segregation and gender stereotypes, covering both formal and informal economy. It asks the Government to provide updated statistical information on the earnings of men and women in all the sectors and occupations of the economy, both in the public and private sectors, as well as in the informal economy.

Article 2. Minimum wages. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide information on specific job evaluation methods used by wage councils, and to indicate how it is ensured that such methods are free from gender bias and do not result in the undervaluation of jobs predominately undertaken by women. The Committee notes the Government’s repeated indication, in its report, that minimum wages are set through negotiations within the various tripartite wage councils which do not make differentiations based on sex. The Committee wishes to recall once again that, the lack of an explicit differentiation between men and women in wage orders is not sufficient to ensure that there is no gender bias in the process of determining minimum wages, and that special attention is needed in the design or adjustment of sectoral minimum wage schemes to ensure that the rates fixed are free from gender bias, and in particular that skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued (see the 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 683, 695 and 701). In light of the substantial wage disparities between men and women in all occupational categories noted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and mentioned in its observation, the Committee asks the Government to provide information: (i) on the measures adopted by the tripartite wage councils to ensure that minimum wage rates are fixed, based on objective criteria, free from gender bias, such as qualifications, skills, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work and that work in sectors with a high proportion of women is not being undervalued in comparison with sectors in which men are predominantly employed; and (ii) on the rates set by the tripartite wage councils as well as statistical information, disaggregated by sex, on the distribution of women and men employed in the various sectors of the economy and industries and the corresponding earnings. The Committee further asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken to raise awareness of employers’ and workers’ organizations regarding the issue of wage disparities between men and women on how they can be reduced and to indicate how the tripartite wage councils promote equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. Referring to its previous comments on the measures taken to ensure concretely that job evaluation methods used in the private sector are gender bias free, the Committee notes the Government’s repeated assertion that its role is very limited in this regard as there is currently no overreaching legislation concerning job evaluation and that methods for job evaluation used in the private sector may differ from one employer to the other. In this regard, the Committee wishes to recall that objective job evaluation is key to achieving the objectives of the Convention. The obligations to “promote” and “ensure” the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value may be fulfilled in various different ways including by, for example, the formulation of guidelines for establishing gender-neutral job classification or non-sexist checklist for the evaluation and classification of jobs. Stressing that the Convention can be implemented at the enterprise, sectoral or national level, in the context of collective bargaining, as well as through wage-fixing mechanisms (see General survey, 2012, paragraph 701), the Committee asks the Government to provide updated information on any job evaluation exercise undertaken in the private sector, indicating the criteria used and the measures taken to ensure that men and women receive equal remuneration for work of equal value. Recalling further that the Convention also applies to the public sector and that the concept of equal value requires some method of measuring and comparing the relative value of different jobs, the Committee asks the Government to indicate how it ensures in practice that job evaluation methods used in the public sector are gender bias free.

Article 4. Cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations. In light of the substantial wage disparities between men and women in all occupational categories, observed in practice by UNDP and mentioned above, the absence of a proper definition of work of equal value as well as of an overarching legal framework enshrining the principle of the Convention since its ratification, the Committee recalls that in order to give effect to the principle of the Convention, there is a need to adopt a range of proactive measures, adapted to the national context, to accomplish real progress in attaining equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on any cooperation undertaken with employers’ and workers’ organizations for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of the Convention.