Time for equality at work

This report is the fourth Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. It examines the diverse forms of discrimination at work that have been identified and formally condemned nationally and internationally. It gives an update of the various policy and practical responses, with the aim of mobilizing greater support for the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.

The report:

• retraces the growth of the awareness that discrimination in employment and occupation, in its different forms, is intolerable.
• examines gender disparities in labour force participation rates, unemployment rates, remuneration and the jobs performed by most women and most men. The Report shows that while there has been some progress, such instances of eliminating sex-based discrimination are not irreversible, and much more needs to be done.
• considers the work of the ILO and of the social partners in eliminating discrimination.
• outlines a plan of action for addressing discrimination at work, to facilitate the efforts of the tripartite constituents to find appropriate solutions. An effective action plan could be based on three strategies:
  • knowledge: report proposes the development of “equality-at-work indicators” as an element of decent-work indicators. With an enhanced knowledge base on the link between poverty and discrimination, the ILO would be better placed to promote non-discriminatory policies and labour market institutions for targeting poverty, as part of a rights-based approach in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework processes. The ILO should document the extent of discrimination in remuneration in order better to assess the real extent of pay discrimination based on sex, race, national origin and other grounds.
  • advocacy: proposes a sustained information and awareness-raising effort that would highlight cases where discrimination has been successfully eliminated
  • services: proposes to strengthen traditional ILO assistance in drafting or revising legislation relating to equality. It also seeks to strengthen national capacity to enforce this legislation.

The report shows that whatever the form of discrimination its elimination tends to require a similar set of policy devices. These range from consistent and effective regulatory and institutional frameworks to suitable training and employment policies. What can be changed is the combination of policies, as can the relative weight of each policy instrument at different stages.