Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Iraq (Ratification: 1963)

Articles 1(a) and 2 of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. Legislation. With reference to its observation, the Committee observes that whereas the principle of equal wage for work of equal value is set out in section 53(5) of Labour Law No. 37/2015, section 41(2)(n) refers to the obligation of the employer to ensure “equal treatment for all employees in the same profession with the same working conditions, in term of wages”. The Committee would like to draw the Government’s attention to the fact that the concept of “work of equal value” is essential to eliminate pay discrimination, as in practice men and women tend to perform different types of work or occupations. Through the use of objective job evaluation methods, this concept permits the comparison of different jobs or occupations performed by men and women which may involve different types of skills, responsibilities or working conditions, but which are found at the end of the evaluation process to be of equal value globally. For instance, in some countries, the principle has been applied to compare the remuneration received by men and women engaged in different occupations, such as wardens in sheltered accommodation for the elderly (predominantly women) and security guards in office premises (predominantly men); or school meal supervisors (predominantly women) and garden and park supervisors (predominantly men) (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs. 672–675). The Committee considers that the reference to “the same profession with the same working conditions” in section 41(2)(n) of the Labour Law may create confusion since the employer has to ensure equal remuneration for work of equal value and not only for the same occupation in the same working conditions. In light of the above, the Committee asks the Government to envisage the possibility to align section 41(2)(n) with section 53(5) of the Labour Law, when it is revised.

Articles 2 and 3. Implementation on the principle of “work of equal value”. Objective job evaluation. The Committee would like to point out that the concept of “equal value” requires some method of measuring and comparing the relative value of different jobs. There needs to be an examination of the respective tasks involved, undertaken on the basis of entirely objective and non-discriminatory criteria to avoid the assessment being tainted by gender bias. While the Convention does not prescribe any specific method for such an examination, Article 3 presupposes the use of appropriate techniques for objective job evaluation, comparing factors such as skill, effort, responsibilities and working conditions. Job evaluation is a formal procedure which, through analysing the content of jobs, gives a numerical value to each job. Two jobs that are found to have the same overall numerical value are entitled to equal remuneration. There are different methods of job evaluation. For the purpose of ensuring gender equality in the determination of remuneration, analytical methods of job evaluation have been found to be the most effective. Such methods analyse and classify jobs on the basis of objective factors relating to the jobs to be compared, such as skills/qualifications, effort, responsibilities and working conditions. These factors can then be divided into subfactors, which can ensure that within each factor those aspects typically identified with women are not overlooked. With respect to effort, for example, subfactors should include not only physical, but also mental and emotional effort, and responsibility can be extended beyond financial responsibility and responsibility for material resources to responsibility for people and for human resources (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 695 and 700). While recognizing the difficult situation in the country, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which it is envisaged to implement the principle of “equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value” set out in section 53(5) of the new Labour Law. The Committee encourages the Government to develop an objective job evaluation method with a view to facilitating the implementation of the principle of the Convention.

Statistics. The Committee requests the Government to provide any recent statistical information available indicating the level of participation of men and women in the various occupations and sectors of activity in the private and public sectors and, in so far as possible, their corresponding earnings.