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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Senegal (Ratification: 1967)

1. The Committee notes two communications by the Independent Union of Teachers in Higher Education (SAES), dated 15 March 1989 and 15 February 1990, alleging that university teachers are discriminated against because they receive a housing allowance which is lower than that of other state employees classified in the same category of the public service. It notes also the Government's comments in a letter dated 5 March 1990, in reply to these communications. The Committee recalls that under Article 1, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention, discrimination is defined in the Convention as "any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin". Thus, the difference of treatment alleged does not affect the application of the Convention, since it is not based on one of the grounds set out in this provision.

2. The Committee notes the Government's reply to its previous comments and notes that the National Vocational Training Office (ONFP), which was established under Act No. 86-44 of 1986, is still being set up and that no programme has as yet been adopted as regards vocational training. The Committee also notes that a national seminar was to have been held by that institution to identify the training needs of the social partners and that the recommendations of this seminar would serve as a basis for the implementation of its training programme. The Committee once again hopes that the next report will contain detailed information on the training programme that has been adopted and the results that have been obtained, particularly as regards the vocational training of women, and especially in trades and jobs which are not traditionally considered to be for women.

3. The Committee also notes the statistics supplied by the Government concerning the number of students of both sexes admitted to the basic and further training courses provided by the National Centre for Occupational Skills (CNQP) since it was established in 1983. The Committee notes, however, that the number of girls admitted to these training courses is still very limited in relation to the number of boys (16, as compared to 240); it is therefore bound to express the hope that the Government will make every effort to disseminate awareness of the activities of this Centre through the population and to promote the access of girls to the Centre and their participation in basic and further training courses leading to non-traditional jobs. The Committee requests the Government to supply information on the results obtained in this respect.

4. The Committee also expresses the hope, as it has in previous comments, that the Government will be able to supply information in its next report on the implementation of the Plan of Action for Women that is provided for in the Economic and Social Development Plan, and on the work of the Secretariat of State for Women's Affairs, especially as regards the promotion of equality of opportunity and treatment for women in employment. The Committee requests the Government to supply information, and particularly recent statistics on the number of women employed in the private and public sectors and their proportion in relation to men, and on the number of women employed in posts of responsibility in these sectors.

5. The Committee notes that under section 154 of the Civil Code, a woman may exercise an occupation, even separately from her husband, unless he opposes it. It requests the Government to indicate whether this provision is still in force and, if so, to indicate the measures that have been taken or are envisaged to repeal it since it is incompatible with the Convention and with the national policy of non-discrimination.