EQUAL REMUNERATION FOR work of EQUAL VALUE: uropean Perspectives
High level tripartite informal conference about "Social Dialogue, Employment Policy and the Principles of Equal Treatment" - Malta, September 2000
Lee Swepston
Chief
Equality and Employment Branch
International Labour Office, Geneva
I. INTRODUCTION (1)
Many of the countries attending this meeting are
required to focus on the principle of equal pay for work of equal
value in the process of accession of fuller integration into the
European Union. Pay differentials remain one of the most persistent
forms of inequality between women and men.
Ever since women entered the labour force, they
have, in general, been paid less than men. At one time, in many
countries, this lower pay for women was an express policy. This
was not based upon evidence that women were less productive than
men, but on the assumption that women did not need to earn a "living
wage", as their husbands were supporting the families. Until fairly
recently, few women worked and when they did employers and policy-makers
(who were most often men) were also very likely motivated by the
belief that women should earn less than their husbands,
viewing the alternative as a threat to the traditional balance
of power within the family.
Over the years the situation changed in many countries.
In former socialist block countries, the share of women in the total
labour force approached fifty percent by the early 1980's.
(2) Legislation in those countries not only allowed
all women to work who wanted to, it also created a duty
to do so. Now the duty is gone, but economic necessity maintains
high participation rates. In other European countries, the participation
of women in the labour force has been on the rise over the last
decade, assisted by non-discrimination legislation. Though wages
are no longer expressed as male or female rates of pay, on average
women continue to receive lower pay than men for performing work
of equal value. And they continue to be employed in lower-paid jobs.
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II . GENDER-BASED WAGE DIFFERENTIALS
A. Trends in Women's Employment in Comparison
to Men's
Women's paid work played an important role in sustaining
economic growth in Western Europe and North America during the 1990's.
Between 1991 and 1996 female activity rates increased in 18 out
of 24 Western countries within the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe, while men's rates declined or remained stable. Female
employment rates rose fast in Western Europe. The increase was most
spectacular in countries where women earlier had relatively low
levels of economic activity such as Greece, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland.
In Sweden and Finland, the participation rates of women are nearing
parity with men. (3) Continued feminization
of the labour force is expected due to demographic, structural and
motivational factors assisted by legislative and policy directives.
Trends in Eastern Europe and in the CIS contrasted
with those in Western countries as they had in the past. During
the transition economic recession, the closure of plants, restructuring
and the financial squeeze have resulted in job cuts. These cuts
have affected women more than men, causing the female labour force
to shrink. The experience has been varied among the countries. For
example, between 1985 and 1997, the female labour force in Hungary
fell by over one third and in Latvia by nearly
one fourth. It also declined in those countries where the male labour
force remained stable such as in Estonia and Poland,
or even where it increased as in the Czech Republic
and Lithuania. Not only did the proportion of women
in the labour force fall, but so did their share in employment.
The largest cut was in Hungary and the smallest
was in the Czech Republic - but it was still larger
than that of men. Only in Slovenia were employment
cuts similar for men and women. (4)
The decline of the female labour force can be largely
attributed to structural changes and labour market policies. Job
losses in industry and agriculture were not offset by an increase
in the share of female employment in services. Women were affected
more than men by the large cuts in the feminized public sector.
Labour market policies encouraged women to leave the labour market
as their withdrawal was seen as an alternative to massive male unemployment
and a solution to cuts in the child care that had been provided
by the state. Also many women found their paid work uneconomical
due to cuts in real wages and the rising cost of childcare. Others
elected to withdraw. However the sharp decline in wages and family
incomes has pushed women back into the labour market, in more precarious
positions than their male counterparts. (5)
Discrimination against women on the labour market
results in unequal access to employment. It is reflected by discriminatory
practices, the wage gap, persistent segregation of female jobs at
the lower end of the labour market, higher levels of women in the
informal sector and higher rates of unemployment for women. All
of these factors are related to the wage gap.
The ILO and its tools. A brief
explanation of what the ILO is and how it works may illuminate the
following discussion. The International Labour Organization was
established in 1919 at the same time as the League of Nations. It
survived World War II to become the first specialized agency of
the United Nations system. The ILO's special characteristic is tripartism
- i.e., national delegations are composed of the government as well
as the representatives of the employers' and workers' organizations
in each member State, all of whom have the right to participate
fully in its discussions and to vote.
The ILO's principal tools have always been international
labour Conventions and Recommendations, with Conventions framed
as treaties that can be ratified and Recommendations serving as
guidance. Once ratified, Conventions are subject to a very thorough
system of international supervision, in which workers' and employers'
representatives have the right to make comments on governments'
reports. The ILO's principal supervisory body is the Committee
of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations,
made up of independent experts from all over the world. This Committee
examines some 2,000 government reports each year on the application
of ratified Conventions, and issues comments, findings and questions
on their application. These comments can be followed up in public
sessions of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards,
established each year at the International Labour Conference and
including all three of the tripartite partners. In addition, complaints
systems are provided for.
In the field of equal rights, there are two paramount
Conventions. The first is the Equal Remuneration Convention,
1951 (No. 100) and now ratified by 146 countries. It makes
operational the provision in the ILO Constitution calling for equal
pay for men and women workers for work of equal value -
a concept that goes well beyond equal pay merely for equal work.
The other is the ILO's flagship Convention on this subject, the
1958 Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention
(No. 111) which covers the promotion of equality in all
aspects of employment, as well as in work outside the employment
relationship. It prohibits discrimination on a wide range of grounds,
covering race, colour, sex, religion, national extraction, political
opinion and social origin, with the possibility of a ratifying country
adding more grounds. In addition, a number of other ILO standards
prohibit discrimination on various grounds, and in particular areas
(social security, migrant workers, indigenous and tribal peoples,
disability, et al.).
The ILO's principal concerns on human rights were
consolidated into a 1998 Declaration of Fundamental Rights
and Principles at Work, and its Follow-up. It includes
a general obligation also on States which have not ratified the
ILO's fundamental Conventions on freedom of association and collective
bargaining, and freedom from forced labour, child labour and discrimination,
to respect their basic principles while working towards ratification.
B. The Wage Gap
Wage differentials between men and women workers
vary from country to country and, within a country, between the
public and private sectors as well as between the different sectors
of the economy. The ILO Committee of Experts has noted the wide
range of this wage gap. Internationally, on average, women typically
earn two thirds of male incomes. All European countries experience
this pay gap, despite some progress. When the gap is small, it was
achieved by only a small group of well educated women at the top
of the labour market. In other instances the most progress was made
in clerical jobs and for elementary occupations. In Finland,
France, Sweden and the United
Kingdom, women in clerical positions have wages only 3-8
percent less than men. The gap for female professions is the largest.
(6)
Women in Eastern and Central Europe have wages
approximately 20% lower than men, but prior to 1989 this gap was
not very big in real terms due to the narrow wage structure. During
the transition the wage gap has widened between men and women. In
the Russian Federation in 1997, women's wages were
estimated at only about 55% of male wages. In the Czech
Republic the wage gap is largest for the most highly educated
women. (7)
Pay disparities exist in certain sectors of the
Lithuanian economy, such as social work, where
professional women's earnings are less than 50% of those of their
male counterparts. Narrow wage disparities were noted in Bulgaria,
where women's average monthly earnings in the public sector range
from 85% to 91% of men's average monthly earnings, depending upon
the type of work involved. (8) As
there tends to be greater parity between male and female wages in
the public sector, layoffs in the public sector tend to have a negative
impact on overall earnings of women in comparison with men, who
can capture higher earnings in the private sector. Also, of course,
reduced wage gaps between male and female earnings may actually
camouflage women's forced exit from the labour market.
The widening of the wage gap in transition countries
is of special concern against the backdrop of the steep decline
in real wages, which makes women particularly vulnerable to the
risk of poverty.
In order to determine the full extent of the gender-based
wage differentials that may exist, the ILO Committee of Experts
issued a General Observation in 1998 noting that
in order to permit an adequate evaluation of the nature, extent
and causes of the pay gap and to assess the application of Convention
No. 100, more complete information was necessary, including:
- the distribution of women by earnings levels
and hours of work (classified by branch of economic activity,
occupation or occupational group or level of education/ qualification,
seniority, age group and number of hours actually worked or paid
for; and
- statistical data on the composition of earnings
(indicating the nature of earnings, such as basic, ordinary or
minimum wage or salary, premium pay for overtime and shift differentials,
allowances, bonuses and gratuities, and remuneration for time
not worked) and hours of work.
Governments have therefore been urged to analyse
the national situation to determine the extent and the nature of
the pay gap, by sector if possible, as a starting point in addressing
the equal pay issue. The EC Advisory Committee on Equal opportunities
for women and men on Equal Pay , issued an Opinion in June, 1999
which stressed the need for greater information on existing pay
structures and systems to allow comparison at sectoral and inter-sectoral
levels, between socio-demographic groups and between different member
states.
C. Causes of the gender pay gap
It is now recognized that the causes of pay differentials
between men and women are found both within and outside the labour
market. Many difficulties encountered in achieving equal remuneration
are closely linked to the general status of women and men in employment
and society. In order to bring about conditions favouring the application
of the principle of equal remuneration, women's participation in
the labour force should be promoted and they should be guaranteed
equal access to jobs and occupations. The male/female wage gap has
been traced mainly to the following (9):
- Productivity-related differences
in human capital. This includes characteristics that
are acquired such as through education, training and
experience; endowed or innate such as dexterity, intelligence;
or appear through socialization or family influence
such as the tendency to be caring, cooperative, aggressive or
decisive. There is little reason to expect substantial differences
in between men and women with respect to innate characteristics,
and differences in physical strength do not matter in most modern
jobs. However, the ascribed characteristics that reflect
social values or prejudices are valued differently for men and
women. Those with higher investments in education, training, labour
mobility and job search can legitimately expect to earn more.
But such investments are generally lower for women. In other words
this represents the undervaluation of women's work.
- Differences in available jobs.
Horizontal and vertical occupational segregation of women affects
their wages directly by segregating them into lower-paying jobs
and indirectly by limiting them to particular occupations. Discrimination
may first of all arise from the existence of occupational segregation,
where certain occupational categories and jobs are reserved (usually
implicitly) for women. Typically, jobs and sectors in which women
are predominately employed tend to pay less than those held primarily
by men. Where women and men are in practice segregated into different
occupations, industries and specific jobs within enterprises,
this is generally the result of strongly-entrenched historical
and social attitudes. Where occupational segregation exists, women
may be excluded from higher paid positions traditionally occupied
by men (construction, machinists, miners, etc.) and are recruited
only for traditionally feminine jobs (secretaries, typists, day
care workers, etc.). Women may also be kept in lower paid positions
due to the existence of vertical occupational segregation, which
has the effect of keeping them in lower level positions. In virtually
all countries, there is a disproportionately low number of women
employed at the higher paid levels. Gender segregation remains
strong in all the European countries.
Even where women have a proportionally higher
level of education, they hold a lower share of managerial and senior
positions in various sectors of the economy. For example, the ILO
Committee of Experts noted in 1997, that women in Belarus
accounted for 58.6 percent of workers with a university education.
They have a consistently higher level of education than men in various
sectors, yet continue to hold a lower share (45.5 percent) of managerial
and senior positions in various sectors of the national economy.
In the industrial sector, the foremost sector of the economy, women
hold only 35.9 percent of managerial posts, despite the fact that
they account for 54.2 percent of employees in the sector with special
technical education.
- Differences in jobs accepted:
Due to household or family responsibilities, women may choose
or be forced to accept jobs that are easier to combine with such
responsibilities. For instance they tend to be in jobs where they
work less overtime than do men. For the same reasons, they may
go into jobs where there is relatively little loss of skills and
depreciation of human capital from interruptions in working period.
They may also lose benefits when these are attached to seniority
based on continuous service. Women often occupy part-time positions,
frequently due to family responsibilities, and this fact may contribute
to wage differentials. Discrimination can be direct with part
time work paying a lower hourly rate than full time work; or indirect
such as in the case of the United Kingdom, where
the ILO Committee of Experts noted that the application of the
lower earnings limit (LEL) for national insurance contributions
has a discriminatory impact and negatively affects women's pay,
partly because women constitute the majority of part-time workers.
4. Pay structure differences or social
security system. Direct discrimination has been due to
differences in male and female pay structures within occupations,
enterprises or sectors, whether explicit or implicit. In some countries,
particularly in agriculture, collective agreements may still reflect
male and female pay rates, and in some countries, differential productivity
rates are set for men and women.
Three dimensions to the pay structure have
been identified that are likely to influence pay equality
(10):
- -the size and ranking of pay differentials,
by industry, and by occupation (the wider the pay dispersion,
the wider the gender pay gap);
- -the system of job grading or evaluation;
and
- -the form of payment system (payment systems
often provide scope for varying pay beyond the range implied by
the basic job-grading system such as through overtime, merit and
seniority pay, and such systems can camouflage real differences
in amounts of pay).
The establishment of centralized minimum standards,
narrow pay dispersion and transparency of pay structures have been
identified as factors which could address the pay structure differences
and help reduce the gender pay gap.
III. THE RIGHT TO EQUAL REMUNERATION
FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE
Since its foundation in 1919, the ILO has
concerned itself with securing the right of men and women workers
to equal remuneration for work of equal value. The original text
of the ILO Constitution recognized this principle to be of special
and urgent importance. The principle was reaffirmed by its incorporation
into ILO Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration, adopted in 1951,
and into the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms
of Discrimination Against Women. The Copenhagen Programme of Action
and the Beijing Platform for Action stressed the continued relevance
and fundamental nature of the principle and both called on all States
to ratify and apply Convention No. 100. Most recently, it was included
as one of the fundamental labour Conventions underlying the principles
expressed in the 1998 ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work.
It is a measure of its international acceptance
that, as of September 2000, 146 //CHK//member States out of 175
have ratified Convention No. 100. It is the second most highly ratified
international labour standard, and among the most highly-ratified
of all international human rights standards. All of the ILO member
States in Europe have ratified the Convention.
A similar importance has been placed on the
principle at the level of the European Union. This was affirmed
in the Treaty of Amsterdam adopted in 2 October 1997 by the European
Community, that came into force on 1 May 1999. It stipulates that
each Member State shall ensure that the principle of equal pay for
male and female workers for equal work or work of equal value. is
applied. (11) This reaffirmed the 1975 European
Community Directive (Directive 75/117) that enacted the principle
of equal pay for equal work and work of equal value.
(12) The European Commission also has issued a Code of Practice
on Equal Pay to provide guidance to the social partners on how to
implement the principle of equal pay. (13)
A. The Scope of Equal Remuneration
In the ILO Convention and under European treaty
law remuneration is defined broadly as including
the ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary and any additional
emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in
cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of
the worker's employment. Additional payments and fringe benefits
such as uniforms, housing, travel allowances, and dependency allowances
are included in the definition of remuneration; it is often in these
areas where pay differentials based on sex are identified between
men and women. Its scope is limited to payments by an employer.
This is not to say that all payments between
men and women must be the same - for to demand this degree of equality
would indeed create inefficiencies in pay structures beyond what
is called for in the application of the human right of gender equality.
The principle of equal pay is not called into question by the practice
of paying merit bonuses or special supplements to reward seniority,
productivity, or any other additional benefits as long as the criteria
for paying these various bonuses and supplements are not based directly
or indirectly on the gender of who is entitled to receive them.
But of course in many cases they are.
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B. The Concept of Equal Value
The term equal remuneration for men and
women workers for work of equal value refers to rates of remuneration
established without discrimination based on sex. Value, while not
defined specifically in the ILO Convention or European treaty law,
refers to the worth of the job for purposes of computing remuneration.
The ILO Convention does not limit application of the concept of
equal value to implementation through the methodology of comparable
worth, but it certainly indicates that something other than market
forces should be used to ensure application of the principle. As
detailed later in the paper, it suggests that job appraisals should
be used to determine valuation where deemed useful. While job appraisal
systems are still a common feature of wage setting, other bases
for the calculation of wages - including minimum wages, productivity
pay, and new competency-based wage systems - are covered by the
principle.
C. Governments' Obligation to Ensure
and Promote Application of the Principle
The ILO Convention provides that each ratifying
State "shall, by means appropriate to the methods in operation for
determining rates of remuneration, promote, and in so far as is
consistent with such methods, ensure the application to all workers
of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women workers
for work of equal value". The coverage extends to all workers without
exception. The measures required by a government to meet its obligation
are flexible and are dependent on the methods already in operation
for determining wages or remuneration.
The Government has the obligation to ensure
the application of the principle of equal remuneration where:
- -it is the employer or otherwise controls
the employer; or
- -it exerts direct or indirect influence
on the wage-fixing process, as when wages are fixed by statute,
regulation or other government decree.
Wherever the State is not in a position to
ensure the application of the principle of equal remuneration, as
when it is excluded from the collective bargaining process, it must
nevertheless promote application of the principle. For example,
promotion may be accomplished through enforcement of legislation,
requirement of pay equity plans, preparation of Codes of Practice,
or undertaking surveys to identify areas of wage differentials,
their causes and the ways they can be removed.
The ILO Convention provides that the principle
of equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal
value may be applied through various means, including:
- national laws or regulations;
- legally established or recognized machinery
for wage determination;
- collective agreements between employers
and workers; or
- a combination of these various means.
The European standard requires the principle
to be included in the law and promotes collective agreements on
the subject.
(i) National legislation.
There has been a marked increase in recent years in the adoption
of laws specifically requiring the payment of equal remuneration
for men and women workers for work of equal value - for instance.
the Czech Republic has just amended its law to
specify the requirement. Interesting examples in other regions include
a new Chadian Labour Code, which in addition to
setting out the principle, also provides that the various components
of remuneration must be established according to identical standards
for men and for women, that professional categories and classifications
and the criteria for promotion must be common to workers of both
sexes, and that methods for the evaluation of jobs must be based
on objective and identical criteria, based essentially on the nature
of the work involved. Guyana's Prevention of Discrimination
Act of 1997, defines equal remuneration as the rates of remuneration
that have been established without differentiation based on the
ground of sex and defines work of equal value in terms of the demands
it makes in relation to such matters as skill levels, duties, physical
and mental efforts, responsibility and conditions of work. The recent
revision of equal pay legislation in Ireland widens
the scope of the evaluation exercise for purposes of comparing men
and women wages.
The legislation should be effectively implemented,
and when it is violated, redress should be available through adequate
and effective recourse procedures and mechanisms. The EU Advisory
Committee has proposed a modification to the Directive 75/117 on
Equal Pay to urge Member States to ensure that labour inspectorates
or bodies with similar powers, supervise the implementation of the
equal pay legislation, including the use of pay audits; and that
they should receive appropriate training. Another modification proposed
is to allow group actions to bring cases of violation rather than
having the cases brought on an individual basis. The Advisory Committee
has also proposed that workers and employers should be able to consult
independent experts on equal pay in case of a pay dispute.
(ii) Machinery for wage determination.
Many countries have national boards that establish minimum wages
and/or issue guidelines on wage levels generally. Although not required
under Convention No. 100, (14) minimum wages
are an important means by which the Convention is applied. The composition
of these boards and the criteria upon which they base their directives
are relevant to the effectiveness of these bodies to promote equal
pay between men and women.
(iii) Collective agreements. Indirect
forms of wage discrimination have been found in collective agreements,
such as the granting of benefits linked to the marital and family
situation of the beneficiary or the use of "light" and "heavy" wage
scales where women are placed in the light and men in the heavy
without an objective evaluation free from gender bias as to the
nature of the work being performed. Collective agreements have not
been used as often as they could to promote equal pay for work of
equal value. Interestingly, at one time many unions exercised caution
in the use of wage evaluation exercises as they felt such exercises
were a means of lowering wages artificially below market or negotiable
rates - and to some extent this attitude continues.
The 1995 EC Code of Practice on Equal Pay
aims to provide concrete advice for collective bargaining partners
to ensure that the principle is applied to all aspects of pay. The
Code is voluntary and is focussed on the workplace level. In particular,
it aims to eliminate sexual discrimination when pay strictures are
based on job classification and evaluation systems. It proposes
that:
- negotiators at all levels who are involved
in the determination of pay systems, whether on the side of employers
or trade unions, should carry out an analysis of the remuneration
system and evaluate the results in order to detect sexual discrimination
in the pay structures so that remedies can be found; and
- a plan for follow-up should be drawn up and implemented to eliminate
any sexual discrimination evident in pay strictures.
(iv) Cooperation with the social partners.
In keeping with the ILO's tripartite structure and approach to problem-solving,
Article 4 of the Convention requires each ratifying
country to co-operate as appropriate with the employers' and workers'
organizations concerned to give effect to the Convention. In addition
to engaging in collective bargaining, social partners' cooperation
may also take the form of participating in job evaluation design
and application, and developing national wage and equal pay policies
(though some trade unions try to reduce the pay gap by treating
it as an issue of low pay and not only an issue of gender discrimination).
The EU Advisory Committee proposes the following
action to be taken by the social partners to implement equal pay
and upgrade low pay:
- examine centralized versus decentralized
bargaining. Studies show that centralized systems of collective
bargaining are more effective in tackling unequal and low pay and
dismantling them can have a detrimental effect on women's pay. When
decentralization occurs, measures should be examined to reduce any
negative effect on the gender pay gap;
- carry out job evaluation exercises
for both full and part-time jobs with the technical assistance of
the State;
- introduce measures, including by creating
special funds at the sectoral level, to increase the pay of
jobs that have been under-evaluated; and
- revise the balance of men and women at
the negotiating table to be more equal.
D. Job Evaluation
The ILO Convention provides that where such
action will assist in giving effect to the provisions of the Convention,
measures shall be taken to promote objective appraisal of jobs on
the basis of the work to be performed. The adoption of the concept
of equal remuneration for work of equal value necessarily implies
some comparison between jobs. As men and women tend to perform different
jobs, in order to eliminate wage discrimination on the basis of
sex, it is essential to establish appropriate techniques and procedures
to measure the relative value of jobs with varying content. The
application of this concept has become known as comparable worth.
This involves an administrative concept of the value of a job, as
opposed to the economic one where the value of a job is determined
by the interaction of the forces of supply and demand. The administrative
concept substitutes job evaluation procedures for market forces
as the appropriate mechanism for determining the value.
(15)
(i) Job evaluation methodology.
Many management consultancy firms have developed their own systems
for undertaking job evaluation. A common element of all such systems
is the establishment of a job description, which is an
accurate statement of the work done by a jobholder. In the simplest
form of job evaluation, a total assessment is made of the job value,
without analyzing it systematically into factors - job descriptions
can be used as the basis of comparisons. More usually, the system
compares jobs against pre-selected factors, such as skill, effort,
responsibility and working conditions, and the evaluation is based
on pre-prepared job descriptions. Schemes that use factors such
as these are called analytical, whereas schemes that make
whole-job comparisons are called non-analytical.
In international practice, types of job evaluation
are divided into ranking, classification, factor comparison, and
point methods. The ranking and classification methods are non-analytical
and the factor comparison and point methods are analytical. In general,
it is considered that the analytical methods of job evaluation permit
a more thorough comparison of the relative value of jobs. In the
factor comparison method, a representative sample of jobs
is analyzed according to the selected factors, and assessors then
decide how much of the existing basic rate of pay applying to each
job is applicable to each of the factors in proportion to their
view of the importance of each factor in the job. In the points
rating method, the demands of the job are broken down and a
certain weight or degree point is given to different factors chosen.
The Convention does not favour any particular
method of evaluation. Neither does the ILO recommend or condemn
any particular method. However, it must be said that many countries
have used the analytical job evaluation methodology and there is
a growing consensus that it is the most practicable method of ensuring
the application of the principle of equal remuneration in practice.
What the Committee is most concerned about and does advocate, is
that the utmost care be taken in selecting the factors to be used
for comparing value, including factors sufficient to take into account
the jobs of women, so that the degree of subjectivity and gender
bias is minimized.
(ii) Avoidance of sex stereotyping
in job evaluations. Job evaluations often rely on inherently
subjective factors. This in and of itself is not a reason for not
engaging in job evaluation. Any basis for determining rates of pay
ultimately involves some element of subjectivity. Therefore, it
is stressed that care should be taken to avoid sex stereotyping
from entering the process, as this may result in an under-evaluation
of tasks performed primarily by women or those perceived as intrinsically
feminine. It is therefore essential to take measures to ensure that
job evaluations are done on the basis of objective criteria. These
criteria should not undervalue skills normally required for jobs
that are in practice performed by women, such as care-giving, manual
dexterity and human relations skills, nor should they overvalue
those skills typically associated with jobs traditionally performed
by men, such as physical strength.
The qualities most often attributed to women
- dexterity, ability to meet emotional demands in various caring
functions, etc. - tend to be undervalued by society in comparison
with those qualities which men are said to possess. Not surprisingly,
societal values are also reflected in wage systems. In terms of
their design and construction, job evaluation systems also show
an obvious gender bias. Traditional schemes tend to measure only
the physical and mental aspects of work and do not include factors
that measure adequately certain aspects of the work such as caring
or other work with people, or the requirement to organize or co-ordinate
activities or people. In addition, a clear line-management bias
exists in many of the factors in traditional schemes, thereby undervaluing
or ignoring the support and non- managerial work often performed
by women. Thus choosing the factors upon which the evaluation will
be based is critical.
(iii) Undertaking job evaluation.
Apart from choosing carefully the factors to be used for evaluation,
a number of other measures should be taken to ensure success of
the procedure. It is important that both management and workers,
men and women, be involved, that they agree that one of the goals
of the process is to reduce gender-based wage discrimination and
that both sides have confidence in the process. In most instances,
the objective of equalizing pay of men and women is one of many
to be pursued in a job evaluation process. In fact, it may be that
this objective is best obtained in an overall wage rationalization
process, so that many of the pitfalls of undertaking a comparable
worth exercise only between men and women are avoided. Adequate
and appropriate training should be given to everyone involved, both
management and workers, so that there is a real understanding of
wage discrimination and an acceptance that it needs to be eliminated.
It is generally recommended that an independent job analyst should
be selected and that the analyst's recommendations be passed through
a worker/employer committee for agreement and application. Finally,
in establishing the job descriptions to be used, care should be
taken to formulate gender-neutral titles, rather than those that
pre-suppose the sex of the jobholder -for example, "sales assistant"
should be used in preference to salesman or saleswoman.
(iv) Scope of comparison in job evaluation.
It is evident that approaches that limit comparisons in the evaluation
process to jobs in the same organization will not succeed in eliminating
sex discrimination in pay: sex-segregation extends beyond any given
organization, since women are concentrated in different organizations
and sectors from men. The ILO Committee of Experts has stated, in
this regard, that the scope of comparison should be as wide as is
allowed for by the wage system in existence.
The Committee has pointed out that pay levels
vary from sector to sector and are generally lowest in female-dominated
sectors. This is often due to the fact that the kinds of work done
in female dominated sectors, such as the textile and garment industries,
is considered to be typically feminine and an extension of women's
tasks in the home. Pay levels are generally higher in traditionally
male-dominated sectors. Additionally, the pay gap between men and
women workers is often widest in traditionally male-dominated sectors.
Sector pay levels have also been noted to match the male/female
domination pattern, rising and falling depending on which sex dominates
the sector. For this reason, the Committee has noted the need for
a system which permits the objective appraisal of jobs comparing
the relative value of jobs in male and female-dominated sectors.
All other things being equal, a centralized
wage-fixing system, with the broadest possible field of comparison,
would appear to provide the best guarantee against wage discrimination.
In fact, experience has shown that the wage gap is narrowest in
those countries with a centralized wage-fixing system, whether it
is carried out through regulation or collective bargaining. By contrast,
fragmented pay structures and those with wide disparities in wage
bands offer greater opportunities for sex bias to be introduced
into wages. Where there is a strong trend towards decentralizing
wage fixing, there is an even greater value in maintaining minimum
wage protection. This is particularly important for women, who comprise
the majority of low-paid workers in almost all countries, and who
are most likely to be paid at minimum -wage levels.
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IV. EXAMPLES of MEASURES TAKEN to IMPLEMENT
the CONVENTION
A comprehensive approach to the reduction
and elimination of pay disparity between men and women involving
societal, political, cultural and labour market interventions is
required. The application of the principle of equal pay for work
of equal value is a necessary part of such a strategy as it has
advantages that non-labour market strategies appear unable to achieve
on their own. In addition to legislation, the Committee of Experts
has noted positive action measures taken by a number of ratifying
States to implement the Convention in practice. The following are
some examples.
In Japan, the wage gap is
primarily due to the concentration of women in lower-paid positions
and the lack of equal employment opportunities for women. In this
regard, Japan has recently adopted the Act on Securing Equal Opportunity
and Treatment between Men and Women in Employment. The Act prohibits
employers from discriminating against women in recruitment and hiring,
assignment, promotion and training, fringe benefits, mandatory retirement
age, retirement and dismissal. In addition, Japan has abolished
certain restrictions on overtime and night work by women as well
as work during holidays, in order to expand women's employment opportunities
and promote equal treatment of men and women workers. Recognizing
that the seniority wage system is also a primary cause of the wage
differential, (16) Japan is actively promoting
various measures to harmonize working life with family life, by
providing for a child care leave system and a family care leave
system, to address the impact of differences in length of service
due to family responsibilities on the remuneration of men and women.
Some governments have established pay equity
plans or general equality plans containing an equal remuneration
component designed to promote application of the principle of the
Convention. For example, in Canada, the Pay Equity
Act of 1996 requires employers with more than 50 employees to establish
a pay equity plan, to be put in place within four years following
the promulgation of the Act. These plans must be developed in four
stages: (1) identification of predominately female and male job
classes; (2) description of the job evaluation method and instruments;
(3) the job evaluation exercise and determination of necessary adjustments
in compensation; and (4) determination of the terms and conditions
of payment. Where employers have 100 or more employees, a pay equity
committee must be established. Bipartite committees may be set up
to facilitate the establishment of pay equity plans in particular
sectors. The Act also establishes a Committee on Pay Equity, which
carries out a range of activities, including monitoring, advisory,
research, promotional and regulatory functions. It may receive individual
complaints and carry out non-advisory investigations on its own
initiative or following a dispute or complaint involving issues
of pay equity. The Committee is also authorized to settle any questions
regarding pay equity between a predominately female job class and
a predominately male job class in enterprises employing fewer than
ten employees. Recently as a result of this initiative, Labour Canada
has recently agreed to pay women working in the public service an
amount of back pay to compensate them for their undervalued wages
over a period of time.
Finland provides an interesting
example of how the principle of equal pay for work of equal value
can be pursued as a national objective, and how it can (or cannot)
be adapted with the introduction of new wage systems. The Finnish
example demonstrates the importance of the participation of the
social partners, of wage and equality experts and of various Ministries
in order to tackle the issue effectively. First, an overall assessment
of the wage classification systems, job-grading and evaluation systems
across sectors was undertaken. At the same time an analysis of remuneration
of men and women was undertaken and areas where there was a pay
gap were identified. Job evaluation methodologies were examined.
It was determined that one national evaluation methodology would
not be appropriate, and it was left up to the sectors and employers
which evaluation system to select. The Equality Ombudsman issued
guidelines to assist employers in formulating their workplace equality
plans. The guidelines explain the employer's equal pay duties and
provide examples of how pay issues should be handled in equality
plans. The plans formulated by employers vary, with some calling
for the creation of a pay system built on job evaluations as a means
to greater pay equality; some require pay analyses to be carried
out at regular intervals to permit the identification and correction
of pay discrimination; while others view the reallocation and reorganization
of work as a method of promoting equal pay.
Some of the new approaches to gender-neutral
job evaluation have conceptualized work as having human relations
skills and emotional aspects, as well as mental and physical aspects.
For example, a scheme developed in New Zealand
includes three factors under the criterion of effort. The first
of these - physical demand - measures the type and duration of physical
effort. It measures the demands made by the strenuous or repeated
use of muscles (including fine muscle movements), as well as the
demands made by working in awkward or constrained body positions
and/or at speed. The need to maintain muscle use over time or to
maintain a constrained body position will increase the level of
physical effort required. This factor thus goes beyond measuring
only the degree of physical strength needed in a job and encompasses
more equitably those physical demands inherent in women's work as
well as in men. The second factor measures the mental demands required
in concentration. It measures the intensity and frequency of this
mental demand, requiring consideration of the type of work and the
need for precision. The third factor measures the emotional demands
made by the job, whether they occur through dealing directly with
the needs of people who require care, attention, instruction or
assistance or through inherently stressful and frustrating work
situations, such as conflicting work assignments, inherent communication
difficulties, dealing with angry, upset or difficult people, time
pressure and deadlines. It is particularly evident that this last
factor of emotional demands has a considerable application to many
of the jobs in which women predominate. This is but one example
of an attempt to avoid gender bias by extending the number of factors
in an evaluation scheme to reflect also aspects of the work in which
many women are involved.
In 1998, the Committee of Experts noted that
Switzerland 's Federal Bureau on Equality between
Men and Women has formulated two instruments for objective job evaluation:
the analytical Evaluation of Work (ABAKABA) and Do I Earn What I
Deserve? (VIWIV). The ABAKABA includes criteria such as repetitiveness
and precision of movement, responsibility for the life of others,
responsibility for the environment, number of work interruptions,
empathy and organizational abilities. VIWIV is intended to complement
the ABAKABA and allows workers themselves to assess whether or not
they have experienced wage discrimination. In the Czech
Republic, the Ministry of Labour has formulated an analytical
methodology for job evaluation that includes criteria based on,
inter alia, specific job requirements in terms of practical experience,
dexterity, job complexity, handling of information, working activities
and work relations, responsibility for damages and occupational
safety and health, management requirements, physical, sensorial
and neuro-psychological demands and work hazards entailed in the
position.
Belgium has recently recognized
the importance of improving its current job classification system.
A study commissioned in 1996 by the Ministry of Employment and Work
showed that, of the 141 sectoral job classifications in Belgium,
only 16 percent had an analytical base. The non-analytical classification
schemes were not considered to be gender-neutral. The study concluded
that modernization of the sectoral classification schemes was urgently
required. The 1998 Belgian Plan of Action, Investing in People and
Employment, finds that women work in a restricted number of sectors
and jobs, and that an important cause of inequality in remuneration
can be attributed to outdated job classification schemes that do
not take into account the value of female qualifications and attributes
(in jobs performed primarily by women).
Recent jurisprudence of the German
Federal Labour Court contemplates that a higher classification should
be given to jobs that, while physically lighter, entail mental and
nervous strain. Moreover, the category of physically arduous work
which is better paid, includes jobs that involve not only muscular,
but also other strain on human beings that can result in physical
reactions.
Both Sweden and Denmark
have launched major campaigns to promote equal pay for work of equal
value aimed at addressing problems both within and outside of the
labour market.
V. THE NEED FOR A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
During the preparation of Convention No. 100
and its accompanying Recommendation, the International Labour Conference
(33rd Session, Geneva, 1950) recognized that there are multiple
and complex links between the principle of equal remuneration and
the position and status of men and women more generally in employment
and society. These considerations led the Conference to propose
a series of measures in Recommendation No. 90 to facilitate application
of the principle of Convention No. 100. (See Paragraph
6 of Recommendation No. 90.) Thus, social policies intended to facilitate
application of the principle of equal remuneration should include
measures aimed at ensuring that men and women workers have equal
or equivalent facilities for vocational guidance, training and placement,
equal access to jobs and occupations and welfare and social services
designed to meet the needs of women workers, particularly those
with family responsibilities. These broader objectives implied in
application of the principle of the Convention have subsequently
been incorporated into other ILO instruments such as the Discrimination
(Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and the Workers
with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156).
As shown in the paper, the sources of wage
discrimination are many and complex. For this reason, wage discrimination
cannot be tackled effectively unless action is also taken simultaneously
to deal with all of its sources. As is evident from the preceding
discussion, it is important to discuss equal remuneration and job
evaluation in the context of a more general protection against discrimination,
such as that offered in Conventions Nos. 111 and 156. Policies
that deal only with labour market discrimination are inadequate,
since factors arising outside the labour market (relating to traditional
ideas about the role of women and the conflict between work and
family responsibilities) appear to be a more significant source
of pay inequality than factors that originate within the labour
market. The opposite is equally true. Legislation has been a decisive
factor in eliminating discrimination and in promoting the principle
of equal remuneration for work of equal value, particularly in cases
of direct and flagrant discrimination. But the continued persistence
of the wage gap has led some governments to introduce more pro-active
measures (rather than complaints-based procedures), such as requiring
employers to implement and maintain pay equity plans, often negotiated
with trade unions, if they are present.
Comparable worth is an important tool to combat
wage inequality as it has the potential to addresses the wage gap
in a widespread way. For some types of discrimination it is an effective
remedy as well. Whether it should be mandatory as a national policy
for all establishments to undertake is less certain and would depend
on many factors, one of the most significant being how centralized
the wage setting structure is within the country. For small business,
job evaluation could be undertaken in a simplified form through
an examination of the pay scale and an identification of areas where
corrective action needs to be taken. What is clear is that it should
be the policy, it should be applied in the public service, and it
should in some way should be promoted in the private sector.
Some of the challenges facing the promotion
of equal pay for work of equal value include the move towards the
more competency-based wage determination, based more on performance
than job content. The manner in which equal value in terms of performance
is applied will have to be determined and work is ongoing now at
Harvard University with this very aim in mind. Other approaches
may well emerge for new forms of work organization or wage setting.
The transformation of work including the changing structure of output,
changing work organization including multitasking and team working,
the rise of flexible jobs and precarious contracts, changing patterns
of labour mobility and the changing nature of the informal sector
are the challenges to be faced in the search for how equal remuneration
can be assured for all working women and men for work of equal value.
1. This
paper is based on research and writing by Constance Thomas, Coordinator,
Equality and Employment Branch, ILO Geneva.
2.
Kroupovà, Alena, Women's
Employment and Earnings in Central and East European Countries,
Background Document to ILO Tripartite Symposium on Equality of Opportunity
and Treatment for Men and Women in Employment in Industrialized
Countries, November, 1990, Geneva.
3.
UN Economic Commission for Europe, Regional Preparatory
Meeting on the 2000 Review of Implementation of the Beijing Platform
for Action, E/ECE/RW.2/2000/2, 9 December 1999.
4.
Id at p.3
5.
Id at p.5
6.
Id at p.6
7.
Id at p.7.
8.
Government reports submitted to the International
Labour Office under article 22 of the ILO Constitution.
9.
Lim, Lin, More and Better Jobs for Women, ILO,
Geneva, 1996.
10.
Rubery, et al, Gender
Pay Differentials, ILO, 1998, Rubery et al, Payment
structures and gender pay differentials: some societal effects,
International Journal of Human Resource Management 8 : 3 April 1997
11.
The former Article 119 of the EC Treaty of 1957 (Treaty of Rome)
merely stipulated the principle of equal pay for equal work. Article
119 as a Treaty provision took precedence over any secondary legislation.
Thus, it was interpreted that the principle of equal pay for equal
work enshrined in the EC treaty, did encompass -by way of interpretation-
the principle of equal pay for work of equal value. With the Treaty
of Amsterdam of 1997, the European Community established a clear
mandate to apply the principle of equal pay for work of equal value
thus removing the former questions over interpretation.
12.
Case 69/80, Jenkins v. Kingsgate (Clothing Production)
Ltd. (1981) E:C:R: 911, at p. 927.
13.
For a
review of European experience see, Heide, Ingeborg, Supranational
action against sex discrimination: Equal Pay and Equal Treatment
in the European Union, International Labour Review, Vol. 138 (1999),
No. 4.
14.
There are three ILO Conventions on minimum wage
fixing, Nos. 26, 99 and 131.
15.
Gunderson,
Morley, Comparable Worth and Gender Discrimination: An International
Perspective, International Labour Office, Geneva, 1994.
16.
In such systems, when women take leaves of absence for maternity
or other family-related reasons, they often fall back to the foot
of the seniority ladder, whatever their accumulated time in a job
or company may be, and thus lose the promotions and salary increases
that come with seniority.
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