Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Ecuador (Ratification: 1957)

1. In its direct request of 1988, the Committee pointed out that section 78 of the Labour Code, which provides that equal remuneration is to be paid for equal work, without discrimination on grounds of sex, is not sufficient to give effect to the Convention which provides that equal remuneration shall be paid for work of equal value. The Committee notes from the Government's reply in its last report that, under both the Constitution and the Labour Code, a person's sex may not be taken into consideration in fixing wages; that the expression "equal work" in section 78 of the Labour Code is not to be interpreted restrictively as meaning "identical" work, but rather as "similar" work of equal value; and that, in practice, the system for evaluating jobs objectively is being used more extensively in both the public administration and in private enterprises. In these circumstances, the Committee hopes that the Government will be able to take the necessary measures to amend section 78 of the Labour Code to provide explicitly that equal remuneration also applies to work of a different nature but of equal value, in accordance with the Convention. It asks the Government in its next report to indicate the measures taken in this respect.

2. The Committee also notes that it has no recent information enabling it to ascertain how the principle of equal remuneration for men and women is applied in practice where wages are higher than the legal minimum. It would be grateful if the Government would provide in its next report:

(i) the wage scales applying in the public service, indicating the distribution of men and women in the various grades;

(ii) the text of the main collective agreements fixing wage levels, particularly in the branches of activity employing a large number of women, indicating the percentage of women covered by these agreements and the distribution of men and women at the various levels; and

(iii) statistical data on the average earnings of men and women, if possible by occupation and branch of activity, and information on the percentage of women in the various occupations and branches of activity.