Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Mauritius (Ratification: 2002)

Article 2 of the Convention. Determination of minimum wages. Remuneration Regulations. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to accelerate the process of reviewing and amending the discriminatory provisions in the Remuneration Regulations. The Committee notes with interest that, following a review undertaken by the National Remuneration Board (NRB), the discriminatory provisions prescribing wages on a gender basis for workers have been removed in the new Cleaning Enterprises (Remuneration) Regulations of 2013; the Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Workshops (Remuneration) Regulations of 2013; the Office Attendants (Remuneration) Regulations of 2013; the Printing Industry (Remuneration) Regulations of 2014; and the Catering and Tourism Industries (Remuneration) Regulations of 2014.

The Committee notes, however, that the Remuneration Regulations governing the Salt Manufacturing Industry, the Sugar Industry (Agricultural Workers) and the Tea Industry still contain different wage rates for male and female workers, but that the Government indicates that these Regulations are gradually being reviewed by the NRB. In this regard, the Committee notes that, in December 2015, the Board recommended removing all remaining gender-specific job appellations in the Remuneration Regulations, as well as to ensure equal remuneration for both women and men workers in “the same job category performing exactly the same duties”, and proposed the higher salary as the basic wage. The NRB, however, considered, concerning the tea industry, that “the apparent discriminatory salaries for field workers and factory workers has all its raison d’être given that the duties performed by men workers differ from that of women workers as per the very definition of those workers in the Regulations”. In this regard, the Government further indicates that not only for the tea industry, but also for the salt manufacturing and sugar industries, limitations exist on the assignment of work whereby female workers are not required to perform tasks which are exclusively reserved for men workers, and that when both are performing the same type of work the tasks allotted to women workers are lesser as compared to those assigned to male workers.

Referring to its comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that limitations of work to be assigned to women which go beyond maternity protection can, together with sex-specific terminology used in wage determination, reinforce stereotypes regarding women’s professional preferences and abilities, and thus increase the likelihood of wage inequality. It further notes that while section 20 of the Employment Rights Act (ERiA) 2008 gives legislative expression to the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, the Remuneration Regulations in the salt manufacturing, sugar and tea industries still contain different wage rates between men and women in the same occupational category. However, those men and women workers may perform different tasks involving different skills which could be nevertheless considered as work of equal value according to the Convention. The Committee recalls that special attention is needed to ensure that the remuneration rates fixed are free from gender bias, and in particular that certain skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 683). The Committee urges the Government to increase its efforts to amend without delay the Remuneration Regulations concerning the salt manufacturing, sugar and tea industries in order to remove all remaining gender-specific job appellations as well as different wage rates for men and women in the same job category, which constitute direct wage discrimination based on sex which should be addressed as a matter of urgency. The Committee further urges the Government to provide specific information on the measures taken to ensure that when determining minimum wage rates by occupation, certain skills considered to be “female” are not undervalued in comparison with traditionally “male” skills, such as heavy lifting, and that female-dominated occupations are not undervalued in comparison with male-dominated occupations. It requests the Government to provide information on the status of revision of the Remuneration Regulations, as well as a copy of the relevant amendments, once adopted. The Committee requests the Government to provide statistics on the distribution of men and women in the different categories of workers provided for under the abovementioned Remuneration Regulations.

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