Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Mongolia (Ratification: 1969)

Previous comments (observation and direct request)

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Prohibited grounds of discrimination.Legislation. The Committee recalls that section 6.1 of the Labour Law which prohibits direct and indirect discrimination in employment and occupation on a certain number of grounds does not explicitly refer to “colour” (but to “appearance” instead) and “national extraction” (as meaning a person’s place of birth, ancestry or foreign origin). It notes that the Government does not reply to its previous comments in this respect. The Committee once again asks the Government to confirm that “appearance” also covers “skin colour” and, if not, to take steps to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on “colour” and “national extraction” in the national legislation. It asks the Government to provide information on any progress made in that regard, including in collaboration with the employers’ and workers’ organizations. Pending the adoption of such provisions, the Committee asks the Government to indicate how employees and applicants are protected against discrimination based on colour and national extraction in practice, as well as any awareness-raising activities undertaken in that regard among workers, employers and their respective organizations, and law enforcement authorities.

Article 1(a). Inherent requirements of a particular job. The Committee recalls that: (1) section 6.5.6 of the Law on the Promotion of Gender Equality (LPGE) of 2011, allows for sex-specific job recruitment “based on a specific nature of some workplaces such as in pre-school education institutions”; and (2) the scope of other provisions of the LPGE may be overly broad in permitting sex-based distinctions, such as in the “provision of health, educational and other services designed to cater for the specific needs of one particular sex” (section 6.5.1) and in respect of employment in specific “workplace facilities” (section 6.5.2). The Committee notes with regret that, once again, the Government does not provide information in that regard. Recalling that the concept of inherent requirements must be interpreted restrictively so as to avoid an undue limitation of the protection against discrimination provided by the Convention, the Committee once again asks the Government to take steps to amend sections 6.5.1, 6.5.2 and 6.5.6 of the LPGE to ensure that these exceptions to the prohibition of discrimination in employment and occupation are strictly limited to the inherent requirements of particular jobs – on a case by case basis – and do not lead in practice to direct or indirect discrimination based on sex. It asks the Government to provide information on the nature, circumstances and outcome of any cases addressed by the competent authorities involving sections 6.5.1, 6.5.2 and 6.5.6 of the LPGE.

Articles 2 and 3. Equality of opportunity and treatment of men and women. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that in spite of the measures taken to provide women with equal opportunities for employment, self-employment and entrepreneurship, economic participation and opportunities have declined. In that regard, the Committee observes that, according to ILOSTAT, in 2022 the labour force participation of women was still 14.9 percentage point lower than that of men (53.5 per cent and 68.4 per cent, respectively), with 39.9 per cent of women being in informal employment (compared to 48.2 per cent for men). According to the National Statistics Office, the employment rate of women remains mostly unchanged since 2020, being estimated at 48.5 per cent in 2022 compared to 61.5 per cent for men, while a greater proportion of women have at least a secondary education (91.5 per cent of women compared to 86.1 per cent of men). While women represented 42.9 per cent of workers in management positions, the Committee observes that the number of women in management positions dropped sharply from 40,962 in 2020 to 29,688, in 2022. Furthermore, it is men who are still mostly represented in mining, transport and construction (representing 85 per cent; 84.8 per cent and 82.9 per cent of the workers employed in these sectors, respectively), while women the ones are mostly represented in the accommodation and food services, health and education sectors (representing 82.3 per cent, 81.4 per cent and 76.6 per cent of the workers employed in these sectors, respectively). With regard to occupational gender segregation, the Committee also refers to its observation on the application of the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), regarding the wide and increasing gender pay gap. The Committee further notes that, in their 2022 concluding observations, both the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) expressed concerned about: (1) the persistence of deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes and discriminatory stereotypes; (2) the continued underrepresentation of women and girls in non-traditional fields of study and career paths; (3) the lack of targeted measures to promote women’s economic empowerment; (4) the limited access of rural women to land ownership and use, formal employment, training opportunities, income-generating opportunities and microcredit; (5) the insufficient measures to reconcile parents’ childcare and family responsibilities with their professional lives, to the disadvantage of women’s employment; (6) the lack of affordable childcare facilities; and (7) the fact that women hold only a minority of leadership and decision-making positions (CEDAW/C/MNG/CO/10, 12 July 2022, paragraphs 20, 28, 34 and 36; and E/C.12/MNG/CO/5, 10 November 2022, paragraph 20).The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication that in order to address this situation: (1) the “gender-sensitive workplace policy” was approved by Resolution No. 38 of 12 December 2022, by the Tripartite National Committee for Labour and Social Partnership, in order to require companies to develop and implement their own gender plans and, since the beginning of 2023, about 120 enterprises and their human resources employees in Ulaanbaatar and 4 provinces of the region have been trained in that regard; (2) a revised draft version of the Law on State and Locally Owned Companies was submitted in May 2022 to the Parliament in order to require an increase in the participation of women in the board of directors of state-owned companies; and (3) actions are being developed to increase the number of girls and women studying information technology and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and to increase the number of men studying in the health and education areas. In that regard, the Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Cross-Sectoral Strategic Plan for Promoting Gender Equality in Mongolia (2022-2031) which sets the following specific objectives: (1) reducing gender discrimination in the labour market, including by establishing and operating a platform for effective collaboration amongst the Government, employers’ and workers’ organizations, media and relevant international partners; (2) eliminating gender stereotypes and creating economic incentives to promote gender equality, including by showcasing best practices in supporting women’s employment opportunities; (3) promoting women’s representation in politics and in leadership at the decision-making level; (4) strengthening the national machinery for gender equality and promoting cooperation and partnership; and (5) improving the collection of sex-disaggregated data, gender statistics and gender analysis for the policy planning, implementation and reporting processes. Welcoming the measures taken, the Committee asks the Government to pursue and strengthen its efforts, in collaboration with workers’ and employers’ organizations, to address persistent vertical and horizontal occupational gender segregation and enhance women’s access to a wider range of jobs and higher-level positions. It asks the Government to provide information on: (i) any measures implemented to that end, in the framework of the Cross-Sectoral Strategic Plan for Promoting Gender Equality in Mongolia (2022-31) or otherwise, in particular to combat gender inequalities and stereotypes; (ii) the implementation of the “gender-sensitive workplace policy” and the development of gender plans by companies; (iii) the reconciliation of work and family responsibilities and the promotion of equitable sharing of family responsibilities between parents; (iv) any assessment made of the impact of these measures on women’s access to employment, including access to self-employment and entrepreneurship, land and credit, in particular for rural women; and (v) the participation of men and women in employment, both in the public and private sectors, disaggregated by economic sector, where possible.

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