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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Egypt (Ratification: 1960)

Articles 1 to 4 of the Convention. Assessing and addressing the gender pay gap and its underlying causes. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any information in this regard. It notes from the 2019 World Bank Women Economic Empowerment Study that : (1) women’s labour force participation has declined from 27 per cent in 2006 to 23.1 per cent in 2016 and they are over-represented in public sector employment (only 18 per cent of the female workforce is employed in the private sector compared to 36 per cent in the government and public sectors combined) and in the informal economy; and (2) women, on average, get paid 34 per cent less per hour than their male counterparts and are under-represented in boards of companies (9.7 per cent) as well as in managerial positions (7.1 per cent); and (3) that views about marriage are a major cause of the low participation rate of women and determines in large part the nature of their participation in the labour market. Moreover, according to the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), as a result of gender-based discriminatory work practices, there is still evidence of a gap in the average wages of women compared to men. Those discriminatory work practices result in a high concentration of women in jobs placed at the bottom of the career ladder. The Committee recalls that the gender pay gap remains one of the most persistent forms of inequality between women and men and an obvious example of structural gender discrimination The continued persistence of significant gender pay gaps requires that governments, along with employers’ and workers’ organizations, take more proactive measures to raise awareness, make assessments, and promote and enforce the application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value. Collecting, analysing and disseminating this information is important in identifying and addressing inequality in remuneration (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraphs 668-669). Noting the persistent gender pay gaps, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on any measures adopted, in cooperation with workers’ and employers’ organizations, to combat gendered assumptions in relation to women’s participation in the labour market and to specifically address occupational gender segregation and to increase the labour force participation rate of women in the formal labour market. The Committee also asks the Government to provide up-to-date statistical data, disaggregated by sex, on the distribution of workers in the different sectors of the economy, by occupational category, both in the public and private sectors, specifying their corresponding remuneration levels, and any available data assessing the gender pay gap in different sectors of the economy.

Article 2(2)(b). Wage determination. The Committee notes that the Government’s report is silent on this point. The Committee therefore asks once again the Government to indicate the manner in which the National Wages Council ensures, when determining wage structures, that wage rates are fixed based on objective job evaluation using objective criteria, free from gender bias, and that occupations, sectors and activities in which women predominate are not being undervalued in comparison with those of men who are performing different work requiring different skills, qualifications, efforts and responsibilities, and with different working conditions.

Awareness raising and enforcement. The Committee notes that the Government’s report is silent on this point. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on:

• (i)any training activities envisaged to improve the capacity of labour inspectors to detect and address pay inequalities; and
• (ii)any awareness-raising activities regarding the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value among workers, employers and their organizations. It also asks the Government to provide information on the number, nature and outcome of any violations of the Labour Law in relation to pay discrimination dealt with by the courts.