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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Malaysia (Ratification: 1997)

Articles 1(a) and (b), and 2 of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. Legislation. The Committee notes with regret that, more than 20 years after the ratification of the Convention, the 2022 amendments to the Employment Act 1955 did not take account of the Committee’s request to expressly incorporate the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal “value”. It points out that retaining legal provisions that are narrower than the principle laid down in the Convention hinders progress in eradicating gender-based pay discrimination. Additionally, the Committee takes note of the concluding observations of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), asking the Government to enforce the principle of equal pay for work of equal “value”, including by stipulating it in the Employment Act 1955 (CEDAW/C/MYS/CO/6, 6 June 2024, paragraph 39(c)). The Committee notes, from the Government’s report, that the Minimum Wages Order 2022 establishes a uniform minimum wage rate across all sectors, types of employment, and regions, aiming to ensure equal remuneration for men and women. The Committee urges the Government: (i) to give full legislative expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal “value”; and (ii) to allow for the comparison of not only the same jobs but also of work of an entirely different nature which is nevertheless of equal “value”, taking into account that equality must extend to all elements of remuneration as indicated in Article 1(a) of the Convention.

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