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Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Nicaragua (RATIFICATION: 1967)

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Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.Gender pay gap and occupational segregation. The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report on various programmes and actions for promoting gender equality, such as: (1) 26 programmes aimed at increasing training and education initiatives for women and promoting women’s rights; (2) the implementation of plans and programmes to make progress in reducing gender stereotypes and the employment gap, in line with the “National Plan for poverty reduction and human development 2022–26”; (3) the promotion of municipal trade schools for capacity-building for women and for promoting the active participation of women in the labour market; and (4) various projects which have benefited women in rural areas, such as the “Micro-credit programme for rural entrepreneurs”, the Adelante programme providing finance for rural women, the “National programme for rural technical education” and the “National rural university programme”. As regards the use of gender indicators, the Government indicates that the gender-mainstreaming indicator system (SIEG) is out of date and that the National Information and Development Institute (INIDE) has incorporated gender mainstreaming into its research variables and produces information which contributes to wages monitoring and follow-up through the “ongoing household survey”. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the various policies adopted on reducing the gender pay gap and, in particular, on the evolution of access for women to a broader range of jobs and sectors with career prospects and higher wages. In order to be able to evaluate the impact of such measures, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide statistical information on the participation of women and men in the labour market, disaggregated by sex and, if available, disaggregated by branch of activity and occupation.

Public sector. The Committee notes the statistical information provided by the Government, as follows: (1) the percentages of women and men in the public sector have remained constant between 2018 (60.50 per cent women) and March 2023 (60.34 per cent women); (2) there is a higher percentage of women than men working in education (69.87 per cent women) and the health sector (66.34 per cent women); (3) the gender gap in the average wage in the public sector has remained in favour of men at 8 per cent, and up to 19 per cent in the health sector; and (4) women are in the majority in ministerial posts (in 10 out of 16 ministries), managerial levels of government (53 per cent) and mayors’ offices (52 per cent). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the steps taken to reduce the gender pay gap in the public sector, especially in sectors where women predominate, such as measures to promote objective job evaluation in those sectors and to promote access for women to jobs and sectors with better career and pay prospects.

Article 2(c). Collective agreements. The Government indicates that, from 2021 to the first quarter of 2023, a total of 131 collective agreements were signed, benefiting a total of 229,887 workers, of whom 119,593 are women. The Government also indicates that no collective agreements containing clauses relating to equal remuneration have been registered, since wages and other social benefits established in these agreements reflect the principle of equality and are applicable to all men and women workers without any distinction on the basis of sex. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that in practice the wages established in collective agreements are determined without gender bias.

Enforcement. The Government indicates that from 2018 to the first quarter of 2023 a total of 83,576 inspections were carried out, guaranteeing the right to equal pay for 51,030 women through an adjustment of the minimum wage. The Government provides information on a series of court cases relating to the principle of equal remuneration, in particular two cases alleging pay discrimination between workers performing the same job (with reversal of the burden of proof being applied in one case and the complaint being upheld) and one case in which a complaint of pay discrimination involving the unilateral reduction of a pregnant woman’s wages was upheld. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on cases handled by the labour inspectorate, courts or other competent authorities in which the principle of equal remuneration for women and men performing different kinds of work has been applied.