Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Lebanon (Ratification: 1977)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report, which has been due since 2019, has not been received. In light of its urgent appeal launched to the Government in 2021, the Committee proceeds to the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal.

Articles 1–4 of the Convention. Evaluating the gender pay gap and identifying its underlying causes. The Committee notes the statistical data contained in the report The Life of Women and Men in Lebanon: A Statistical Portrait, published in 2021 in partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Central Administration for Statistics of Lebanon. It notes that, during the period 2018–19: (1) the overall pay gap between men and women was 3.6 per cent in favour of women, as workers who are not Lebanese nationals earn substantially less than nationals (under half as much) and the majority of those are men; and (2) when the data are disaggregated by nationality, for Lebanese nationals, the monthly wage gap between men and women was 6.5 per cent. The report also indicates that, over the same period 2018–19: (1) the earnings gap persisted in all professions; (2) the wage gap between men and women (in favour of men) was higher for operators of equipment and machinery and assembly workers (women earn 30 per cent less than men) and for professionals and technicians (women earn around 20 per cent less than men); and (3) the lowest wage gap (in favour of men) was for office employees (3.8 per cent) and craftworkers and industrial workers (4.4 per cent). The Committee requests the Government to take measures to: (i) continue gathering, compiling and analysing data on the remuneration of men and women with a view to identifying pay gaps, where possible, disaggregated by professional category and/or economic sector, including the public sector; and (ii) identify and begin addressing the underlying causes of these gaps. The Committee requests the Government to provide data and information on the conclusions of any studies undertaken on this subject.

Articles 1(b) and 2(2)(a). Equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Legislation. The Committee notes the information provided by the ILO Regional Office for the Arab States in Beirut, according to which a draft new Labour Code had been finalized by the Ministry of Labour at the beginning of 2021, forwarded to the Council of Ministers and referred back to the Minister following the formation of the new Government in September 2021. The Committee notes that as a consequence, the reform of the Labour Code is still ongoing. It recalls that section 26 of the Labour Code of 1946, as amended in 2000, provides that “it is prohibited for the employer to discriminate between men and women who work in relation to … the rate of the wage, employment, promotion, advancement …”, but that it does not give expression to the concept of “work of equal value” which is at the heart of the Convention. The Committee further notes that, during the examination of the report of Lebanon by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Government representative indicated that the country was endeavouring to ensure equal pay for men and women workers, and various ministries were working, in cooperation with the National Observatory for Gender Equality, to facilitate all the reforms through the collection and analysis of information with a view to preparing recommendations aimed at parity and in support of parliamentary decisions (press release, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 18 February 2022). Recalling that it has been drawing the Government’s attention to this matter for several decades, and although aware of the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee urges the Government to take measures for the inclusion in the future Labour Code of provisions establishing equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and specifying how equal value is measured (objective job evaluation).

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.