Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Botswana (Ratification: 1997)

Minimum wages. The Committee notes the adoption of the Minimum Wage Order in 2012 and the Government’s indication that the minimum wages are set by specific trade or industry and not on the basis of gender and that there is no discrimination between men and women with regard to the payment of wages for equal work. With reference to its observation, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that the absence of a distinction between men and women in the regulations determining the minimum wages is not sufficient to ensure that there is no gender bias in the process of minimum wage fixing. The Committee recalls that due to such occupational segregation, special attention is needed in the design or adjustment of sectoral minimum wage schemes to ensure that the rates fixed are free from gender bias, and in particular that certain skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued and that the work in sectors with a high proportion of women is not being undervalued in comparison with sectors in which men are predominantly employed (see General Survey on fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 682–685). The Committee asks the Government to take measures to ensure that the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value is taken into account by the Minimum Wage Advisory Board and fully reflected in the minimum wage-setting process, and to provide information of any steps taken in this regard.

Objective job evaluation. The Committee notes that the principle of equal pay for work of equal value is set as a basic principle for job evaluation in the Job Evaluation Manual for the Public Service provided by the Government with its report, but the Manual does not specifically refer to equal remuneration between men and women. The Committee understands that the Government job evaluation scheme is mainly based on the criterion of decision making to measure and assess the relative levels of responsibility of jobs, with a view to producing a rank or hierarchy showing the relative importance of one job to another. The Committee recalls that the effective implementation of the principle of the Convention requires the use of a job evaluation method in order to measure and compare the relative value of different jobs held by men and women, through an examination of the respective tasks involved, undertaken on the basis of entirely objective and non-discriminatory criteria, such as skill, efforts, responsibility and working conditions, to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. The Committee asks the Government to indicate if such an objective job evaluation to ensure that men and women receive equal remuneration for work of equal value has been undertaken in the public sector using the Job Evaluation Manual and, if so, to provide specific information on the criteria used. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information regarding any measures taken to promote objective job evaluation in the private sector.

Measures to promote equal remuneration. The Committee once again asks the Government to provide information on any measures taken to promote equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, including any measure to address the underlying causes of pay differentials such as vertical and horizontal job segregation and gender stereotypes.

Assessment of the gender pay. The Committee asks the Government to collect and provide statistical information on the situation on men and women in employment and their remuneration in the public and private sectors, by industry and occupation. Please also provide any available information, including estimates, on the gender pay gap.