Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Viet Nam (Ratification: 1997)

1. Assessment of the gender wage gap. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to provide statistical information, disaggregated by sex, on the income levels of men and women in the various sectors, occupational groups and levels of employment. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not provide such information. It notes nevertheless from the Viet Nam Country Gender Assessment prepared in 2006 by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Canadian International Development Agency, that a woman in Viet Nam, on average, earned 83 per cent of a man’s wage in urban areas and 85 per cent in rural areas (data for 2004). The Assessment refers to sex-based labour market segregation due, inter alia, to “widespread discrimination against women in recruitment”, and to the “low value attached to women’s work in particular sectors” as causes of the gender wage gap. Noting that under the Law on Gender Equality 2006, the Government has the responsibility to establish statistical information and report on gender equality, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to collect, and analyse, and provide to the Committee, appropriate statistical information on the earnings of men and women that would allow the Government and the Committee to assess the progress made in closing the gender pay gap.

2. Legislation applying the Convention. The Committee recalls its previous comments noting that the provisions concerning equal remuneration of the Labour Code do not fully apply the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, as set out in the Convention. The Committee invited the Government to consider giving full legislative expression to the principle and asked it to indicate the steps taken in this regard. The Committee notes that the Government’s report, received at the ILO on 20 September 2006, does not provide any response to these comments. However, the Committee notes that section 13 of the Law on Gender Equality, which was adopted in December 2006, provides for equal treatment of men and women in respect of, inter alia, “wages, pay and bonuses”. Noting that section 13 appears to provide for equal pay for equal work, the Committee once again stresses that the Convention, in addition, requires equal remuneration to be paid for work of equal value. Under the Convention, women must have the right to equal remuneration not only when they perform the same or identical jobs or occupations as men, but also when they perform jobs or occupations that are different from those done by men but are nevertheless of equal value. This aspect of the Convention is crucial in understanding how to eliminate pay discrimination that consists of undervaluing the work performed in female-dominated jobs, occupations and sectors. Noting that the Law on Gender Equality and the Labour Code fall short of fully applying the Convention, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to its general observation of 2006 which further elaborates on the importance of the notion of “work of equal value” in the elimination of pay discrimination against women. It urges the Government to consider giving full legislative expression to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and to take the necessary action in this regard. The Government is asked to indicate the specific steps taken to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention, including in the context of the ongoing revision of the Labour Code.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.