Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Kazakhstan (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 1 and 2. Gender pay gap. The Committee previously asked the Government to provide detailed information on the measures taken or envisaged in order to: (1) reduce the significant gender pay gap; and (2) improve the access of women to a wider range of job opportunities including into higher-level and higher-paid occupations, as well as in sectors in which they are currently absent or under-represented, with a view to reducing inequalities in remuneration that exist between men and women in the labour market. The Committee further asked the Government to provide detailed and up-to-date comparable statistics on earnings of women and men, including sex-disaggregated data by industry and occupational category. The Committee notes the information according to which in 2019: (1) a worker’s nominal average monthly remuneration was 186,800 tenge (KZT); (2) for men, the figure was KZT222,500 while for women it amounted to KZT150,800 – that is to, women’s remuneration was 67.7 per cent of men’s; and (3) where the work has the same characteristics in terms of qualifications and place of work, men and women’s remuneration is the same. The Committee also notes the numerous statistical information provided by type of economic activity concerning, amongst other thing: the number of employees, their wage, the index of average monthly wages and real wages, the number of employees and their wages by region, the average monthly salary and real wage index by regions, the average monthly salary and number of employees in the industry by type of economic activity, etc. Finally, the Committee notes that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in its 2019 concluding observations, expressed concern that the significant gender pay gap (34 per cent) and the horizontal and vertical segregation in the labour market impede the full achievement of equality at work (doc. CEDAW/C/KAZ/CO/5, 12 November 2019 paragraph 37(b)). The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government, all pointing to the fact that the gender pay gap in the country is still significant. The Committee reiterates therefore its request to the Government for detailed information on the concrete measures taken to improve the access of women to a wider range of job opportunities including into higher-level and higher-paid occupations, as well as in sectors in which they are currently absent or under-represented, in particular in industrial sectors where wages are higher than the national average, such as oil and gas, mining and processing, transport and construction, etc.