Guidelines

Promoting Equity: gender-neutral job evaluation for equal pay. A step-by-step guide

This Guide, to be used when mplementing the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, free from discrimination based on sex, as enshrined in the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), is in keeping with the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and, in particular, with the 2003 and 2007 Global Reports devoted to equality at work. It is meant as a tool to be used to promote this principle in many different workplace environments. To date, the ILO Convention No. 100, adopted in 1951, has been ratified by 167 countries. However, despite this broad consensus regarding the principle enshrined in it, the pay gap between women and men remains a persistent and universal fact of the labour market. Recent statistical surveys have revealed that this gap exists in countries with very diverse economic structures and that, although the gap is decreasing in most of these countries, this progress is being achieved very slowly. The gap persists despite the significant gains women have made in terms of education and work experience.

Significant gender disparities in pay are amongst the most resilient features of labour markets everywhere in the world.
Even though the gender pay gap has narrowed in some places, women, on average, continue to work for a lower pay than men. This trend continues despite striking advances in women’s educational attainments and work experience. The gender pay gap has many causes and sex discrimination in remuneration is one of them. The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951,(No.100), one of the eight core international labour standards, seeks to address discrimination in remuneration by ensuring that women and men receive equal remuneration not just for the same or similar work, but also for
work of equal value. This principle is fundamental to the achievement of gender equality, as a large proportion of women do different jobs than men. Assessing the value, and corresponding requirements, of different jobs on the basis of common and objective criteria also contributes to more transparent and efficient systems for pay determination, while improving
recruitment and selection procedures.