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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Türkiye (Ratification: 1967)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-IŞ) and the Turkish Confederation of Employer Associations (TİSK), communicated with the Government’s report. It further notes that the observations made by TİSK were supported by the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) in a communication received on 31 August 2017.

Articles 1 to 3 of the Convention. Women’s employment and job segregation. Gender wage gap. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to take proactive measures to address job segregation and to provide statistics on employment by sector and occupation disaggregated by sex. The Committee notes from the Labour Force Statistics published in March 2019 by the Turkish Statistical Institute that the employment rate of women above the age of 15 years was 29.1 per cent in 2018 and is 28.8 in 2019 (against 65.5 per cent and 62.4 per cent for men, respectively). The Committee notes that the 2016 statistics provided by the Government show both an important occupational gender segregation by sector of activity – horizontal occupational segregation (in 2016, women represented around 24 per cent of the workers in wholesale and retail trade, in transportation and storage, in information and communication, arts, entertainment and recreation, and in manufacturing; and 70.8 per cent of the workers in human health and social work activities and 52.8 per cent in education) and by level of occupation – vertical occupational segregation (in 2016, 15 per cent of the managers were women and they represented 41.2 per cent of workers in the elementary occupations). With respect to public employment, the Committee notes from the statistics provided by the Government that women represented only 37.31 per cent of all public personnel in 2016. The Committee further notes from the statistics provided by the Government that public employment is highly segregated by sex, as women are in a minority in all service classes, except in “Education and Training” (54.44 per cent) and “Health and Auxiliary Health Services” (66.29 per cent). The Committee notes from the information provided in the scope of the Programme “More and Better Jobs for Women” implemented by the ILO with funding from the Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA) that the difference in average wages between men and women who are engaged in paid employment is 12.9 per cent overall and, that in sectors where the feminization rate is higher the hourly gender wage gap is also higher (for example, 56.6 per cent in health and 60.5 per cent in care services). The Committee recalls that some of the underlying causes of pay inequality have been identified as the following: horizontal and vertical occupational segregation of women into lower paying jobs or occupations and lower level positions without promotion opportunities; lower, less appropriate and less career-oriented education, training and skill levels; household and family responsibilities; perceived costs of employing women; and pay structures (General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 712).

The Committee notes from the TÜRK-IŞ’s observations that differentiation in wages between female and male employees may be explained by the low level of wages in sectors where women commonly work (textile, food, tourism) and the level of women’s education, their literacy rate and their low rate of participation in employment. The Committee notes from the Government’s report that women benefit from vocational training courses, on-the-job and entrepreneurship training programmes organized by the Turkish Employment Agency (ISKUR) and that various programmes, including the Programme “More and Better Jobs Women”, the “Engineer Girls Project”, the “Women Masters Projects” (2016–17) and the Project on “Increasing Access of Women to Economic Activities”, are being or have been implemented to increase employment opportunities and access to qualified employment for women and develop concrete solutions and policies in this regard. The Committee also notes that research and activities have been carried out on the development of childcare to better balance work and family responsibilities. In this respect, the Committee refers the Government to its comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). In addition, the Committee wishes to stress the importance of regularly monitoring and assessing the results achieved with a view to reviewing and adjusting existing measures and strategies on reducing the gender pay gap. Recalling that occupational segregation, with women in lower paying jobs or sectors, is an underlying cause of remuneration gaps and noting the steps already taken in this regard, the Committee asks the Government to: (i) increase its efforts to address effectively both vertical and horizontal occupational segregation of men and women in the labour market as well as gender stereotypes; (ii) promote the access of women to a wider range of occupations and to higher positions both in the public and the private sectors, including through the development of lifelong learning; and (iii) provide information on the impact of these measures on the employment rate of women and the occupational gender segregation by sector of activity and by level of occupation. The Committee also asks the Government to continue to provide statistics on occupation by sector and level of occupation disaggregated by sex and to provide any recent study or statistics available on the gender pay gap, by sector if possible.

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Additional emoluments. Family allowances. Civil Service. The Committee recalls that section 203 of the Civil Servants Act, 1965, which provides that family allowances are paid to the father if both parents are civil servants, was being reviewed and in previous comments it has requested the Government to ensure that the new provision will adequately take the Convention into consideration and that the decision concerning which of the two parents will receive the family allowances is left to the parents in each case. It notes with regret that the Government indicates that no change was made to this section. The Committee recalls that, in order to ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, the definition of remuneration established by the Convention is to include all elements that workers may receive in exchange for their work and arising from their employment, regardless of whether the employer pays in cash or in kind, and directly or indirectly. The Committee draws the Government’s attention to paragraph 693 of its General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions in which the possibility of allowing both spouses to choose which of them should receive the family allowances, rather than establishing the principle that they should be paid systematically to the husband. The Committee asks the Government to take the necessary measures so that section 203 of the Civil Servants Act, 1965, is amended with a view to ensuring that men and women civil servants are entitled to family allowances on an equal footing. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the progress made to this end.

Article 3. Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes the information provided by TİSK describing the Metal Industry Job Evaluation System (MIDS), which has been in use for 35 years, and the current review of this system since it has become insufficient to meet the needs of the enterprises in the sector. In this regard, the Committee notes that, according to TİSK, the MIDS is a system based on the principle of “equal pay for equal work”, which assesses jobs according to 12 different factors under the four main factors (i.e. skill, responsibility, effort and business conditions). The Committee would like to recall that the concept of “work of equal value” is fundamental to tackling occupational sex segregation in the labour market, which exists in almost every country, 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 General Survey of 2012, paragraph 673). The Committee asks the Government to continue to take steps to develop and promote the use of objective job evaluation methods in all sectors and to ensure that the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for “work of equal value”, and not only for “equal work”, is made an explicit objective of such an evaluation method. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the review of the Metal Industry Job Evaluation System mentioned by TİSK, including details on the criteria and the principle established and any results obtained in terms of wage adjustments, as well as information on any other job evaluation system currently used in other sectors of the economy.

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