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

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Togo (Ratification: 1983)

Article 1(1)(a) of the Convention. Discrimination on the basis of sex. Further to the adoption of Act No. 2014-019 of 17 November 2014, which amended the Personal and Family Code and, in particular, abolished the status of “head of the family” by making both spouses jointly responsible for the family (new section 99) and abolished discriminatory provisions towards women with regard to inheritance, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the measures taken to publicize the new Personal and Family Code. The Government indicates in its report that it has organized several meetings to publicize the new Code for various populations across the country during which many copies of the Code were distributed. The Committee notes this information.

Articles 2 and 3. Equality of opportunity and treatment between men and women. In its previous comment, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on: (1) any evaluation undertaken of the National Policy on Gender Equity and Equality (PNEEG) of 2011; (2) the measures aiming to promote equality between men and women in education, training, employment and occupation; and (3) the activities of the Ministry Responsible for the Promotion of Women and those of the gender focus groups of ministerial departments in the area of employment. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government on the results achieved and the obstacles encountered in the implementation of the PNEEG, particularly the weak involvement of the private sector in promoting gender and the low level of activity of the gender focus groups of the ministerial departments. With regard to the measures aiming to promote gender equality, the Government indicates that it has, inter alia, updated the Education Sector Plan (PSE) to include the issue of gender; established new vocational training centres aimed at making this type of training accessible to all, including girls with difficulties in traveling and finding accommodation; and implemented a project to promote girls in scientific, technical and vocational fields by awarding academic achievement grants. The ministry responsible for the promotion of women has implemented a “girls’ academic achievement and leadership project” since 2017, as well as a national programme for women’s professional leadership. The Government states that it is committed to making access to means of production and employment opportunities one of the priorities for promoting gender equality, in particular by supporting the transition from formal to informal work. The gender focus groups periodically hold capacity-building sessions for women in the ministerial departments on several themes. The Committee notes that, in its report on the national-level review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995 (Beijing +25, national report), which covers the period between 2014-2019, the Government indicates that the five priorities identified by Togo to accelerate progress for women and girls are: (1) equality and non-discrimination in law and access to justice; (2) quality education, training and lifelong learning for women and girls; (3) elimination of poverty, and strengthening of agricultural productivity and food security; (4) elimination of violence against women and girls; and (5) political participation and representation. It notes that, while the Government refers to progress made in legislative, political, programmatic and strategic matters, it also recognizes that there are bottlenecks and failings with regard to gender equality and empowerment of women and girls. At the legal level, the Committee notes, for example, the adoption of Act No. 2018-005 of 14 June 2018 issuing the Land and Property Code, which currently guarantees access to land ownership for women on the same footing as men (sections 8, 13, 14, and 483).

At the level of the policy framework, the Committee notes the following initiatives: (1) the strategy for accelerated growth and employment promotion (SCAPE 2013-2017) which was followed by the national development plan (PND 2018-2022), the third pillar of which provides for the continued promotion of gender equity and equality, the empowerment of women and their effective participation in decision-making at all levels of the development process; (2) the 2016-2030 Agricultural Policy, the second pillar of which includes the issue of women’s access to productive resources (with a view to increasing their productive capacity) and the management and control of their own incomes; and (3) the updated 2011 national policy on gender equity and equality (PNEEG) and the corresponding implementation strategy revised in July 2019, the strategic directions of which focus on: promoting the position and potential of women in the family and community; increasing women’s productive capacity and income; improving equitable access of women and men to social services; promoting equitable participation of men and women in the management of power, respect for the law and elimination of all forms of violence; and strengthening the intervention capacities of the institutional framework for the implementation of the PNEEG. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Togo Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) (2019-2022) also highlights that conditions of access to positions of responsibility remain difficult owing to sociocultural considerations, as the prevailing opinion is still that women should be committed to their reproductive function and household tasks. This in turn reinforces the structural barriers limiting their access to education, training, land and productive assets, while restricting the time and mobility they need for productive work and the choice of economic activity. With regard to combating gender stereotypes concerning women’s aspirations, preferences and vocational skills, and their role in the family and society in general, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that this consists essentially of organizing information and awareness-raising sessions for target populations and various socio-professional categories; holding public meetings and conferences; and awarding grants or computers to encourage women and girls to continue their studies in science subjects. In the light of the foregoing, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to: (i) increase the involvement of the private sector in the promotion of gender equality; (ii) enhance the efficiency of the gender focus groups (gender focal points) in view of their central role; and (iii) facilitate women’s access, especially in rural areas, to means of production (credit, land etc.). It also requests the Government to provide detailed information on the results achieved through the new vocational training centres, the girls’ academic achievement and leadership project, the national programme for women’s professional leadership, and grants or computers awarded to encourage women and girls to continue their studies in scientific subjects (the number of women enrolled in the training centres and participating in various projects, statistics on the results achieved, the number of grants awarded and status of the number of young women continuing their studies in science subjects etc.). Furthermore, as the establishment of gender equality ensues from an awareness of the influence of gender stereotypes and their transformation, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to effectively combat gender stereotypes, including through educational and vocational training institutions, the media and cultural industries (television, radio, advertising, cinema, theatre, social media etc.)

Article 3(d). Employment of women in the public sector. In response to the Committee’s request to train more women and encourage them to apply for a wider range of jobs in the public service, particularly higher-level posts and positions of responsibility, the Government merely produces data on the numbers, disaggregated by sex, of workers in categories A1 and A2 of the public service (workers who may be appointed to positions of responsibility). These data show that the proportion of women among public workers in these grades remained strikingly unchanged from 2015 (15.8 per cent) to 2019 (15.9 pour cent). The Committee also requested the Government to eliminate the obstacles that women may face in employment, in particular to combat negative stereotypes concerning women in society. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Government, in its Beijing +25 national report, recognizes that one of the obstacles to gender equality is the persistence of gender stereotypes. It also notes the concluding observations of the United Nations Human Rights Committee inviting the Government to take urgent action to strengthen public information and awareness-raising activities to eliminate sexist stereotypes, counter the problem of women’s subordination and promote respect for the roles and shared responsibilities of men and women in the family and in society (CCPR/C/TGO/CO/5, 24 August 2021, paragraph 20(c)). In light of the lack of any progress recorded for years on the proportion of women in positions of responsibility in the public service, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the concrete measures taken or envisaged to remedy this, and the results achieved. It also once again requests the Government to combat negative stereotypes concerning the aspirations, preferences and capabilities of women and their role in society and to eliminate, at every stage of employment, the obstacles that they may face.

Article 2. Promotion of equality and combating discrimination on grounds other than sex. In its previous comments, the Committee recalled that apart from sex, the most frequently cited grounds for discrimination in employment were ethnicity and social origin, followed by political opinion. As the Government, in its report, states that it was unable to provide the information requested by the Committee on the recommendations from the consultations and advocacy project for equitable access to employment in the private and public sectors carried out in 2014 and 2015, the Committee requests it to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to combat discrimination and promote equality in employment and occupation irrespective of race, colour, national extraction, religion, political opinion, and social origin, in cooperation with employers’ and workers’ organizations.

General observation of 2018. The Committee thanks the Government for the information provided in response to the questions asked in the above observation.

Statistics. The Committee notes the Government’s statements in its Beijing +25 national report on the progress made in the availability of data disaggregated by sex and statistics on gender through the establishment of an inter-institutional coordination mechanism for statistics on gender, the development of a gender statistics database and dashboard, as well as capacity-building for managers of the national statistical system relating to the development of these statistics to promote the increased use of gender-specific data in policymaking and the implementation of programmes and projects. The Committee requests the Government to provide up-to-date statistical data on: (i) the economically active population disaggregated by sex in the private and public sectors; (ii) the numbers of women and men at all education levels and in the various vocational training provided; and (iii) the number of men and women who have found a job further to one of these training modalities, in particular a job traditionally occupied by a person of the opposite sex.