Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Night Work (Women) Convention (Revised), 1948 (No. 89) - Tunisia (Ratification: 1957)

Article 3 of the Convention. Prohibition on night work for women. The Committee notes that section 66 of the Labour Code prohibits, in principle, night work for women. While noting that the Labour Code provides for possible adjustments and exceptions to this principle, the Committee recalls that protective measures applicable to women’s employment at night which go beyond maternity protection and are based on stereotyped perceptions regarding women’s professional abilities and role in society, violate the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women in employment and occupation (see the 2018 General Survey on working time instruments, paragraph 545). The Committee therefore requests the Government to examine sections 66 to 74 of the Labour Code in the light of this principle, in consultation with the social partners. Recalling that the Convention will be open for denunciation between 27 February 2021 and 27 February 2022, the Committee encourages the Government to consider its denunciation. It also draws the Government’s attention to the Night Work Convention, 1990 (No. 171), which is not devised as a gender-specific instrument, but focuses on the protection of all those working at night.