Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1990, published 77th ILC session (1990)

Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111) - Norway (Ratification: 1959)

The Committee takes note of the information furnished by the Government in its reports.

1. The Committee recalls that under section 2 of the Worker Protection and Working Environment Act (No. 4 of 1977) workers in certain sectors of activity are excluded from the scope of the Act, which contains certain guarantees against discrimination in employment. The activities which remain outside the scope of the Act (after measures noted in the previous request) are sea-going navigation, hunting and fishing (including the treatment on board of the produce of fishing), and military aviation. The Committee points out that there is no provision in the Convention limiting its scope as regards either individuals or occupations. It again asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or under consideration to ensure that workers still outside the scope of Act No. 4 are also protected against acts of discrimination, in conformity with the purpose of the Convention to protect all persons against the types of discrimination to which it refers.

2. With regard to discrimination on the basis of sex, the Committee notes that women in the age range 25-66 years show an increasing tendency in recent years to enter the labour market, and that despite a continued propensity of the majority of boys and girls to choose their education in subjects and lines of study which are traditional for the two sexes, the proportion of women has risen in typically male-dominated fields of learning such as economics and administration, medicine, law and engineering. The Committee notes with interest the positive measures taken by the Government to integrate men and women into non-traditional occupational fields, in particular, the payment of a subsidy to employers who engage a woman in a job traditionally considered to be male and a man in a job considered female; the action aimed at training women in male-dominated occupations by informing and motivating school-aged girls to choose non-traditional education and occupations; and the several aspects of the Nordic "BRYT" project which took place in Norway aimed at developing and trying out models intended to break down the gender-divided labour market. It notes from the reports that, as the project concluded in 1989, it can be considered a qualified success in opening up gender-neutral occupations and training courses to women, but that the gender-separated labour market and traditional choice of occupations persist.

The Committee asks the Government to continue to furnish information on the measures taken or under consideration to give effect to the provisions of the Convention by ensuring equality of opportunity in employment and occupation, and also on the progress achieved. As concerns the new Pan-Nordic project which is to follow on from BRYT it notes that it will focus on pay equality and on upgrading the value attached to low-paid and women's occupations. The Committee hopes to receive information in future reports on its progress. It asks the Government to furnish information on co-operation with employers' and workers' organisations in this field.