A/HRC/RES/41/14
Recalling further the agreed conclusions adopted by the Commission on the Status of
Women at its sixty-first session on women’s economic empowerment in the changing world
of work and Human Rights Council resolution 34/14 of 24 March 2017 on the right to work,
in which they recognized the importance of taking legislative and other measures to realize
the equal rights of women and men and equal opportunities for women for full and productive
employment and decent work, and equal pay for work of equal value,
Taking note of the work of the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Women’s
Economic Empowerment and the Joint Declaration on Trade and Women’s Economic
Empowerment, and their recommendations on removing barriers to women’s economic
empowerment and ensuring the empowerment of women as free and equal participants in a
robust, sustainable and inclusive global economy,
Recalling that the principle of equal pay for work of equal value was first proclaimed
in the Constitution of the International Labour Organization and further articulated in its
Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), and in international human rights law
through, inter alia, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and
the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, as well
as in regional instruments that underpin the principle of equal pay for work of equal value,
Recognizing that progress on the achievement of gender equality and the
empowerment of women and girls has been held back owing to the persistence of historical
and structural unequal power relations between women and men, poverty and inequalities
and disadvantages in access to resources and opportunities that limit women’s and girls’
capabilities, and growing gaps in equality of opportunity, discriminatory laws, policies,
negative social norms, attitudes, harmful practices and gender stereotypes,
Expressing deep concern that this progress has been particularly slow when it comes
to women’s economic empowerment, that jobs traditionally held by women have been
undervalued, that women and girls undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid care and
domestic work, and that tackling pay inequality has proved to be particularly challenging,
especially for women and girls experiencing multiple and intersecting forms of
discrimination,
Recognizing that unequal pay is one of the contributory factors of the gender pay gap
and that action to address unequal pay contributes towards closing the gender pay gap,
Recognizing also the major contribution made by civil society, including women’s
and community-based organizations and feminist groups, as well as businesses, workers’ and
employers’ organizations, to promoting the economic empowerment of women and girls and
the fulfilment of their right to decent work and education, in particular equal pay for work of
equal value,
Recognizing further ongoing efforts to promote equal pay for all, and welcoming in
particular the work of the Equal Pay International Coalition and the role of the United Nations
Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, the International Labour
Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in leading
and coordinating it, while underlining the importance of further galvanizing efforts by all
relevant stakeholders to continue and strengthen implementation of the common commitment
to achieve equal pay,
1.
Expresses deep concern that pay inequality persists around the world despite
the principle of equal pay for work of equal value having been established more than 70 years
ago, and recognizes that pay inequality is an impediment to the achievement of gender
equality and the economic empowerment of women and girls, and to the full realization of
their human rights;
2.
Urges States, in cooperation with civil society, the private sector, employers’
organizations, trade unions and the United Nations system, as applicable:
(a)
To enact or strengthen and enforce laws and regulations or other equivalent
measures that uphold the principle of equal pay for work of equal value in the public and
private sectors as a critical measure to eliminate the gender pay gap, and to provide in this
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