Campaign of women section of KSS – equal pay for equal work

Skopje, 8 March 2017
The Women Section of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia marked the International Women’s Day in a different way by sending a message for equal pay for women and men. Pay equity for women and men is an important first step towards greater equality in society, because the differences in wages are one of the most obvious and measurable forms of discrimination. But although equality is guaranteed by law, stereotypes and gender discrimination still exist in Macedonia, and it is something we should all work for to make changes, said Daniela Janevska from the Women Section of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia – KSS .
According to the latest data on average, women earn 12.5% less than men and if it is calculated annually, the women 33 days per year are inefficiently paid.
The labor of women is underestimated, and it is harder for women to be employed on certain jobs due to established stereotypes that certain workplaces are just for men and others for women.
In order to reduce this gap and these outdated stereotypes Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia – KSS, organized a press conference, once again to send a message to the public, to the owners and managers of Macedonian companies that wage should be the result of the work and only of the work regardless of gender.
The General Secretary of KSS Zoran Antovski, send message to the employers that in employment they should take into account the educational criteria and professional skills of the candidate, not to subdivide the work of male and female.
According to the General Secretary, the Convention on equal pay from 1951 and ratified in 1991, should be applied in practice, as one of the eight fundamental labor standards. Convention provides improvement of objective evaluation of jobs on the basis of work performed. It recommends using gender-neutral terminology when posting job openings which not reinforces stereotypes and makes no reference to the sex of the employee. The Convention also prohibits the payment of different wages to men and women for the same work done.
After more than 25 years since the adoption of legislation that prohibits gender discrimination in the workplace and stands for equal amount of wages, it is disgraceful that women continue to face barriers. We simply must not ignore the extent of shortages in the labor market, which does not allow women to improve the career as men.
Very often women are outperforming men at every stage of education, but over time that success is not rewarded in the workplace. Women are a vital part of the labor force and proposals for flattening of gender pay gap must be sufficiently strong, clear and delivered in the direction of change.
The press conference was informed that according to the World Economic Forum (weforum.org) Macedonia is ranked 73 out of 144 countries in existence gap between men and women, and predictions are that it will not be closed until 2186.
The event is supported by the project Promotion of social dialogue, which is funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Labour Organisation as part of the promotional campaign for the trade unions.