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Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - France (RATIFICATION: 1953)

Article 1 of the Convention. Combating occupational segregation and promoting gender balance in employment. The Committee recalls that in 2014, 50 per cent of women were concentrated in 12 of the 87 occupational groups identified by the Department of Research and Statistics (DARES), while 50 per cent of employed men were concentrated in 20 of those occupational groups. The Committee also notes that, according to a study published in July 2017 by the National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), among all employees, 10.6 per cent of the wage gap derived from the segregation of women in the least well-paid enterprises; the wage gap owing to segregation among managerial staff was 4.1 per cent. For many years, the Committee has been emphasizing that one of the main causes of gender wage gaps is horizontal occupational segregation, where, depending on their sex, workers are limited to certain sectors, jobs or occupations, and vertical occupational segregation, where, within the same occupation, workers remain at the bottom of the salary scale because of their sex. The Committee welcomes the adoption by the Government of a set of mechanisms aimed at ensuring gender balance in employment: the agreement on gender balance in employment and occupational equality between women and men for enterprises without a threshold of employees, implemented by Decree No. 2011-1830 of 6 December 2011 in order to assist in financing training activities and adapting posts in mainly male-dominated occupations; the national framework agreement on gender balance and occupational equality signed in 2013 by the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Vocational Training and Social Dialogue, the Ministry of Women’s Rights and the national employment office (Pôle emploi); the action forum for gender balance in employment set up in 2014 whose objective is to achieve a gender balance in 33 per cent of jobs (compared with 12 per cent currently), by means of various measures and targeted actions in ten key sectors (early childhood facilities, civil security, energy and transport, etc.); sectoral plans for gender balance (transport in 2013 and digital in 2017, etc.). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken within the framework of the different action plans and mechanisms, particularly awareness-raising and information measures in vocational teaching and training as well as measures to combat sexist stereotypes regarding the vocational abilities and aspirations of girls and women, and also of boys and men. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate whether assessments have been carried out on the impact and, more generally, the effectiveness of these mechanisms and to provide information on the results achieved in terms of gender balance in employment.

Article 2. The application of the principle of the Convention through sectoral and enterprise agreements. The Committee notes that Decree No. 2012-1408 of 18 December 2012, on the implementation of the obligations of enterprises on occupational equality between men and women, makes it compulsory to include the issue of remuneration in the collective agreements on occupational equality or, failing that, in the action plan that sets the objectives for progression, actions and statistical indictors, applicable in enterprises with more than 50 employees, and imposes fines where those obligations are not met. The Committee welcomes the detailed information provided by the Government on the number and content of the sectoral agreements on the subject of occupational equality (140 agreements in 2014, that is, 14.3 per cent of the total, compared with 122 in 2013). This information also shows an increase in the number of agreements containing specific measures and agreements extended without exception. The Committee notes that the social partners also act in favour of wage equality by establishing communication activities and evaluation systems, and by placing emphasis on recruitment and internal mobility, as well as on vocational training. The Committee also welcomes the information on the enterprise agreements which set out specific measures to eliminate wage gaps, such as methods for the analysis and evaluation of posts and wages of men and women in enterprises, statistical objectives, the establishment of dedicated bodies, the right to receive explanation regarding remuneration and awareness-raising actions. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the content of sectoral and enterprise agreements relating to wage equality between men and women and on the specific measures taken based on these agreements to reduce the wage gaps. In addition, it encourages the Government to continue its efforts to publicize the good practices identified at the sectoral and enterprise levels to reduce and eliminate the wage gaps and to raise awareness among the social partners of the principle of the Convention and, in particular, of the concept of “work of equal value”.

Application in practice. Judicial decisions. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on any recent judicial decisions relating to the principle of wage equality between men and women for work of equal value.