Major new report by the International Labour Organization
Geneva (16 May 2007) - Despite major advances in fighting discrimination at work, a new International Labour Organization (ILO) report says mounting inequalities in income and opportunities, and significant and persistent forms of workplace discrimination, are causing growing concern worldwide.
The warning is contained in the ILO's most comprehensive report on discrimination to date. Entitled Equality at work: Tackling the challenges, it assesses the ongoing global challenge posed by discrimination in traditional forms such as sex, race or religion as well as newer forms based on age, sexual orientation, HIV/AIDS status and disability.
"The global picture of the struggle to overcome discrimination shows a mixture of major advances and failures", the report says.
The first such report was issued by the ILO four years ago. It was called Time for Equality at Work.
Core conventions
The good news in the intervening years is that most of the ILO's 180 member states have ratified its two core conventions on discrimination and are committed to creating legislation and policies against discrimination.
However, a major theme of the new report is the persistence of gender gaps in employment and pay and the need for integrated policies to address sex discrimination in remuneration and occupational segregation by sex, while reconciling work and family responsibilities.
For example, the report states that throughout the European Union (EU), the difference in average gross hourly earnings between women and men has remained high at 15%.
Yet female labour force participation rates have risen significantly. The overall rate stands at 56.6% but the level varies greatly by region. It is 71.1% in North America, 62% in the European Union, 61.2% in East Asia and the Pacific and 32% in the Middle East and North Africa.
One key measure of improvement for women is the rising availability of good-quality jobs for women in legislative, senior official or managerial positions.
However, women still hold only 28.3% of these senior jobs worldwide - 41.2% in North America, 35% in Latin America and the Caribbean and 30.6% in the European Union. In South Asia the rate has doubled over a nine-year period but still lags far behind at just 8.6%.
Almost universal condemnation
"The condemnation of discrimination in employment and occupation is today almost universal, as is the political commitment to tackle it," the report says.
Nine of 10 ILO member states have ratified the two core conventions on discrimination – the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). The conventions commit ratifying states to adopting legislation and policies that prevent discrimination.
Nevertheless, the report says the need to combat discrimination at work - "in the face of a world that appears increasingly unequal, insecure and unsafe" - is more urgent than it was four years ago.
Significant and persistent inequalities in income, assets and opportunities remain, thus diluting the effectiveness of any action aimed at combating discrimination. "This may lead to political instability and social upheaval, which upset investment and economic growth," the report says.
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations in Canada with over 340,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good.
More information:
• ILO Global Report - Equality at work: Tackling the challenges
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