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Equal Pay For Women
by
MRS. MARY MATHEWS, LL.M., Solicitor
The most recent declarations relating to equal pay
include :
(1) (a) The UN Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, adopted by the General Assembly of the UN
in December 1948 says in Article 23 (2) that "everyone
without distinction has the right to equal pay for equal
work", (b) In November 1967 the Declaration on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women was
adopted, which says in Article 10 : "all appropriate
measures shall be taken to ensure to women, married
or unmarried, equal rights with men in the field of
economic and social life and, in particular, . . . the right
to equal remuneration with men and to equality of
treatment in respect of work of equal value".
(2) The European Social Charter, adopted by the
Council of Europe in October 1961, provides in par 3
of Article 4 that the contracting parties shall undertake;
"to recognise the right of men and women workers to
equal pay for work of equal value". This paragraph
was not universally accepted : among those who did
not accept it was Ireland.
(3) The ILO in June 1951 adopted a Convention
(Convention No. 100) which contained the same provi-
sions as those in the European Social Charter. It stated
that "equal remuneration for men and women workers
for work of equal value" refers to rates of remuneration
established without discrimination based on sex. This
Convention was ratified by more than seventy countries,
including all the then members of the EEC, the UK
(though not until after their Equal Pay Act, 1970, was
enacted), Norway and Denmark. Ireland did not ratify
the Convention. When a question arose in the Dail
about this at the time, it was stated in reply that since
the normal method of wage negotiation in Ireland is
free collective bargaining, before deciding to ratify the
Government would have to regard the trend in free
collective bargaining concerning equal pay.
(4) The Treaty of Rome, mainspring of the EEC,
signed in March 1957, states in Article 119: "Each
member State shall, during the first stage, ensure and
subsequently maintain the application of the principle
that men and women should receive equal pay for equal
work."
Irish constitutional safeguards
It is perhaps paradoxical that Ireland, the "non-
ratifying country of international conventions" has at
the same time constitutional safeguards covering dis-
crimination against women. According to Article 40 (1)
"all citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal
before the law. This shall not be held to mean that the
State shall not in its enactments have due regard to
differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of
social function."
This provision was interpreted in the High Court
by Mr. Justice Kenny to the effect that a policy or
general rule under which anyone sought to prevent an
employer from employing men or women on the ground
of sex was prohibited by the Constitution :
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unreported.
The protection in this case was wider than the issue of
remuneration and extended to the actual terms and
conditions of employment.
The Irish Constitution also provides among its Direc-
tive Principle of Social Policy in Article 45 (1) that:
"The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards
securing that the citizens (all of whom men and women
equally have the right to an adequate means of liveli-
hood) may through their occupations find the means of
making reasonable provision for their domestic needs."
In par. 142 of the Report of the Committee on the
Constitution in 1967 the Committee surveyed this Article
and felt that it should include "a provision establishing
the principle of equal pay for men and women for
work of equal value".
Of greatest note in Ireland is the Commission set up
on 31 March 1970 "to examine and report on the status
of women in Irish society, to make recommendations on
the steps necessary to ensure the participation of women
on equal terms and conditions with men in the political,
socia, cultural and economic life of the country and
to indicate the implications generally—including the
estimated cost—of such recommendations". This action
was criticised by the then Opposition parties in Dail
Eireann who accused the Government of the time of
further staving the issue by the introduction of a com-
mission. No doubt one can now expect speedier legis-
lative action, but time has shown (particularly in the
light of the think British legislation) that reflection and
deliberation are necessary if a bone fide policy is to be
effected at all. An interim report was issued by the
Commission in response to Ministerial request in August
1971 and the Commission has sat for the last time
recently.
British Equal Pay
Act
1970
The main purpose of this article is to look at the
British Equal Pay Act 1970 with a critical eye, hoping
that its deficiencies will not find repetition in Ireland.
The Act (and a corresponding one in Northern Ireland)
evinces the general intention that employers shall be
obliged to give equal treatment as regards terms and
conditions of employment to men and women. The Act
therefore is not limited to securing equal pay. It con-
tains three basic principles:
(1) For men and women employed in like work the
terms and conditions of one sex shall not be any less
favourable than those of the other;
(2) For men and women employed in work rated as
equivalent the terms and conditions of one sex shall not
be less favourable than those of the other in any respect
in which the terms and conditions of both are deter-
mined by the rating of their work;
(3) Collective agreement shall not make any provision
relating to men only or to women only. "Collective
agreement" is defined so as to include any agreement
between employers, their representatives, organisations
or associations, and employees' organisations, their re-
presentatives or their associations, and also any award
based on such agreements. The principle extends to
employers' pay structures, which are defined as arrange-
ments adopted by an employer which fix common
terms and conditions of employment for his employees
or any class of them and of which the provisions are
generally known. This last requirement was acknowl-
edged in Committee as imprecise, yet it remained.
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