Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (Ratification: 1982)

The Committee notes the observations of the Confederation of Workers of Venezuela (CTV), the Independent Trade Union Alliance Confederation of Workers (CTASI) and the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations of Venezuela (FAPUV), received on 30 August 2021. The Committee also takes note of the observations of the Bolivarian Socialist Confederation of Men and Women Workers in Urban and Rural Areas and Fishing of Venezuela (CBST-CCP) received on 8 September 2021. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Gender wage gap. The Committee notes the indication in the Government’s report that a study on the gender pay gap is being undertaken with all relevant national organisms. The Government also refers to women’s participation in Production Councils of Workers (at a rate of 32.46 per cent in 2020) as well as the rate of women benefiting from monetary long-term benefits (pensions) (59.9 per cent of total recipients) and from the “Gran Misión Hogares de la Patria” (78 per cent of total beneficiaries). The Committee also notes from the Government’s report on the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), that the Programmatic agenda for women and gender equality 2025, adopted within the framework of the Plan de la Patria 2025, includes among its objectives the emancipation of gender equality seeking the full equity on working conditions and enjoyment of economic rights, and the fight against patriarchal domination in all levels of the educational system and in culture. The Committee takes note of the observations presented by the CTV, the FAPUV and the CTASI, according to which there is no official data on the gender pay gap after 2011 and that, according to a 2020 National Survey on Living Conditions carried out by the Institute for Economic and Social Investigation (IIES), in 2020 there was a wide gender gap in the rate of economic participation, of 71 per cent for men and 43 per cent for women. The same organizations also highlight the lack of collaboration with the Government in the application of the Convention. The Committee wishes to recall that, in order to be able to address discrimination and unequal pay, and to determine whether the measures taken are having a positive impact, data and research on the actual situation, including the underlying causes, are essential and thus that more information is needed on the employment rate, sectors of occupation and remuneration, disaggregated by gender. The Committee requests the Government to: (i) continue providing information on measures taken to address the gender pay gap, including in the framework of the Programmatic agenda for women and gender equality 2025; and (ii) provide further information on the content of the study that is being carried out, and particularly whether it will contain statistics and any other information, disaggregated by sex, which would make it possible to evaluate the gender pay gap by sector, clarify its causes and assess trends.