Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

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

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Articles 1 and 2(a) of the Convention. Application of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value in the public sector. The Committee notes the Government’s repeated indications that the pay scale for civil servants is drawn up by the authorities with the participation of the most representative workers’ trade union federations and that the pay scale makes no distinction with regard to gender. The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention once again to the fact that even though the pay scales are applicable to all public employees, without distinction as to gender, pay discrimination can arise from the classification of jobs and the manner in which it is carried out, especially when an outdated method is used. Indeed, the criteria used, and the manner in which they are weighted, to evaluate tasks and thus establish the classification of a job could lead to an undervaluation or even a failure to take into account certain tasks which are largely performed by women, due to prejudices according to which these tasks call for characteristics thought to be innate in women or to natural abilities, rather than professional skills. Wage gaps between men and women can also arise from inequalities in access to certain supplementary wage benefits. In light of the above, the Committee requests the Government to examine the possibility of reviewing job classifications using an objective job appraisal methodology to ensure that job classifications and the pay scales applicable in the public sector are free from any gender bias and that jobs largely performed by women are not undervalued and, consequently, underpaid.