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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Honduras (Ratification: 1956)

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender pay gap. Statistics. The Government indicates in its report that, despite an increase between 2021 and 2022 in the average income of men by 22.1 per cent and 11.9 per cent for women, in comparative terms the average income of women continued to be higher in 2022 (7,859 Honduran lempiras, equivalent to approximately US$318) that than of men (7,480 lempiras, equivalent to approximately US$302). This may be attributed to the fact that, according to the data used by the Government for the preparation of the Labour Market and Wage Report, women have higher educational levels and are engaged in jobs in urban areas. According to the annual report Labour Market Equity and the Wage Gap 2021– 22, published by the Secretariat for Labour and Social Security: (1) the data shows a labour market participation rate of 48.7 per cent for women compared with 74.3 per cent for men in 2021, which shows that women are less likely than men to enter the labour market, and when they are in the labour market, they are more likely to be in informal, vulnerable and worse paid jobs; (2) women held 60 per cent of jobs in the public sector and 30 per cent in the private sector; and (3) the gender wage gap is negative in the public sector, which means that women are earning more than men, with the exception of rural areas and the private sector. The Committee welcomes the efforts made by the Government to compile and analyse statistical data on the gender pay gap and requests it to continue its efforts to study and address the underlying causes of: (i) the lower labour market participation rate of women (in the private sector); and (ii) the existing pay gaps (such as vertical and horizontal occupational segregation) (in this regard, the Committee refers to its 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 712); and (iii) the educational level and occupational skills of men and women, and to provide detailed information on the specific measures adopted and the progress achieved in this regard.

Article 1(b). Work of equal value. Legislation. The Committee recalls that section 367 of the Labour Code and section 44 of the Equal Opportunities for Women Act (LIOM), as well as Decree No. 27-2015 of 7 April 2015 (which prohibits the setting of different remuneration for the same category of salaried work based on whether the worker is a man or a woman), do not ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value. The Committee observes that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) recommended the effective enforcement of the principle of equal pay for work of equal “value” in order to narrow and eventually close the gender pay gap (CEDAW/C/HND/CO/9, paragraph 37(c)). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the legislation duly reflects the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal “value” and to provide information on the progress achieved in this respect, in consultation with the social partners.

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