by Paula Määttä

VII. Ghana

B. Scope of the concepts on equal pay

1. The definition of "pay"

"Pay" includes basic pay and additional payments and benefits. Additional payments and benefits include overtime allowance, annual increment, acting allowance, annual bonus, annual leave, leave travelling expenses, casual leave, sick leave, maternity leave, night allowance, housing allowance, and height allowance. In Ghana, both men and women do not benefit from old age benefit. Men do not benefit from paternity leave (cedaw 1991, 31.)

Minimum wage protection in Ghana is provided for under the Labour Regulations of 1969.

2. The definition of "equal work"

Section 68 of the 1969 Labour Regulations provides that an employer must pay to a female worker a wage equal to the wage paid to a male worker for "identical or substantially identical work". Work is considered to be "equal work" where "the job, duties or services the employees are called upon to perform are identical or substantially identical".

3. Scope of the equal pay provisions

The guarantee by the Constitution of 1992 of equal pay for equal work applies to "every person". Thus all employees in the public sector and in the private sector have a right to equal pay.

Despite the existence of various laws, womens enjoyment of their rights, including the right to equal remunerations, tends not to be enforced. In particular, private establishments frequently pay scant regard to safety measures and paid maternity leave as required by law. Women have the right to three months maternity leave with full pay. While women in the public sector are granted maternity leave with pay, this is not the usual practice in the private sector. Only 8 per cent of women have benefitted from this right. Even though women who work in the private sector know their rights they do not complain when they are denied maternity leave with full pay. One reason for this is that they fear they might lose their jobs. Moreover, work done by women at home is not considered to be work done in the labour force. (cedaw 1991, 30-31.; ILO Tripartite Seminar 1994, 87.)

Wages are usually determined by collective agreements, but there are differences between male and female employees in relation to the allocation of certain fringe benefits. For example, Article 4 of the agreement between the Gihoc Distilleries Company and the Industrial and Commerial Workers Union) provides that a "family" means "an employee, his wife and children under 18 years who are not gainfully employed (husbands are excluded in the case of female employees)". This provision would have the effect of denying to a female employee the benefits available to the family of a male employee in case of transfer. Although this agreement dates from 1982, it presumably continued in force under Article 2 of the agreement.

Similarly, in the 1988 Agreement between the Merchant Bank (Ghana) Limited and the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union, though the definition of "employee" includes both male and female staff, a "family" is also defined as meaning "an employee, his wife and children under 21 years of age who are not gainfully employed". This provision appears to exclude the family of a female employeefrom eligibility to the banks medical scheme and from the fares paid by the employer in case of permanent transfer. The 1991 agreement concluded between Eveready Ghana Limited, Tema, and the General Transport, Petroleum and Chemical Workers Union of TUC and the 1990-1992 agreement between the Accra Brewery Unit of the Ghana Employers Association and the Accra Brewery Workers of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union of the TUC contain definitions to the same effect. In addition, the last-mentioned Agreement stipulates a compulsory retirement age of 55 years for men and 50 years for women, which disadvantages women in relation to men since end-of-service benefits are calculated on the basis of length of service.