Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Saudi Arabia (Ratification: 1978)

The Committee has reviewed the reports supplied by the Government since the Convention's ratification in 1978, and in particular its latest report. It notes that the questions it has raised and the replies furnished by the Government have not made clear the extent to which the Convention is applied in practice; nor do they appear to have made it clear to the Government why these questions have been raised repeatedly.

The Committee recalls that the Government has consistently indicated that the problem of discrimination in remuneration on the basis of sex does not exist in the country, and in particular that no provision of the legislation authorises or embodies any discrimination on the basis of sex. The Government has also referred to systems of job classification which it has indicated preclude the possibility of sex-based discrimination.

The Committee has requested information on various occasions on different aspects of the system for fixing wages, in both the public and private sectors, in relation to the principle laid down in the Convention. While it is clear, from the information available, that no legislative provision is in itself discriminatory, the Committee has not so far been informed that the Government has taken positive measures to "promote and, in so far as is consistent with" the measures in use for determining remuneration, "ensure the application to all workers of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value" (Article 2(1) of the Convention). For instance, there are no legislative provisions which forbid discrimination on the basis of sex, or which make obligatory the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. While these are not the only methods by which the Convention can be applied (see Article 2(2)) there are also no collective agreements, nor have any positive expressions of this policy been notified to the Committee.

Finally, the Government has so far been unable to supply statistical data indicating the wages actually paid to men and women in the private sector, nor has it indicated how the principle of the Convention is applied to elements of remuneration higher than the basic wage in the public sector, nor have the bases of job classifications been indicated.

The Committee therefore hopes that in its next report the Government will provide information which will clarify any positive measures it has taken to apply the principle of the Convention, and that it will be able to indicate the wages actually paid to men and women workers in the private sector.