Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 1999)

Articles 1 and 2(2)(a) of the Convention. Work of equal value. Private sector. Legislation. The Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, that the new Federal Civil Servants Proclamation 1064/2017, continues to provide, in its section 8, that “all positions of equal ‘value’ shall have an equal base salary”. The Committee further notes the Government’s indication that the new Labour Proclamation No. 1156/2019 was adopted. However, it notes with concern that the Government did not make use of the revision of the law to give full legislative expression to the principle of the Convention. Indeed, sections 14(1)(b) and 87(1) of the Labour Proclamation 2019, while prohibiting discrimination based on sex in respect of remuneration, continue to not specifically state that equal remuneration is required where women and men perform different work which is nevertheless work of equal “value”’. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it considers article 42(1)(d) of the Constitution, which guarantees “equal pay for equal work” for women and men, to sufficiently reflect the principle of the Convention. The Committee must therefore, once again, recall that the concept of “work of equal value” lies at the heart of the fundamental right of equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal value, and the promotion of equality. 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 672–679). Therefore, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures, in the near future, to give full legislative expression to the principle of equal remuneration for women and men for work of equal value enshrined in the Convention, and to provide information on the concrete steps taken in this respect.

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