Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

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

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The Committee notes the observations of the General Confederation of Workers of Mauritania (CGTM), received on 29 August 2023. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Article 3 of the Convention. Objective job evaluation. Undervaluation of predominantly female jobs. The Committee notes the CGTM’s indication that: (1) in economic sectors in which a majority of women work, such as fish processing industries, the jobs are very low skilled and the wages are derisory; and (2) the Government should update once again the classifications, which must principally and solely take into account skills and competencies and leave aside received ideas and perceptions in this regard so as not to undervalue jobs considered to be female in relation to those performed by men. The Government indicates that: (1) with regard to the criteria and method used to classify jobs, it should be emphasized that the criteria take into consideration the skills and tasks to be performed; and (2) as a consequence, workers are always classified in categories and scales determined by the classifications contained in the agreements appended to the general collective labour agreement (CCGT). The Committee recalls that determining whether jobs are of equal “value” presupposes measuring and comparing the relative value of the jobs, generally through the objective evaluation of jobs. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to examine these classifications in light of the principle set out in the Convention, and particularly the manner in which remuneration rates have been set for jobs or sectors in which women are in the majority, on the one hand, and for those in which men are in the majority, on the other. It also requests the Government to: (i) promote the use by the social partners of objective methods for the evaluation of jobs based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria such as skills, effort, responsibilities and conditions of work; and (ii) to undertake, in collaboration with the social partners, activities to raise awareness of the principle of “equal remuneration for work of equal value” and the importance of using objective job evaluation methods. The Government is also requested to examine the possibility of reviewing job classifications in the public service using an objective job evaluation method so as to ensure that these classifications and remuneration scales are exempt from any sexist prejudice and that work performed mainly by women is not undervalued, and therefore underpaid.

Awareness-raising measures and enforcement. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that labour inspectors regularly carry out awareness-raising campaigns and, where appropriate, penalize any failure by employers to give effect to clause 37 of the CCGT and section 191 of the Labour Code in this regard. In the absence of legal provisions reflecting the principle of the Convention, the Committee encourages the Government to develop training and awareness-raising activities concerning the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value for labour inspectors, magistrates, workers, employers and their respective organizations. The Government is requested to provide information on the measures taken in this regard.