Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast Directive 2006/54)

• Author: Baci, Entela
• Pages: 36-51

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4 Equal pay and equal treatment at work (Article 157 of the Treaty on the

Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and Recast D irective 2006/54)

4.1 General (legal) context

Surveys on the gender pay gap and the difficulties of realising equal pa y

Over the last five years, several reports and surveys that explain the gender pay gap

(GPG) or the realisation of equal pay for women and men have been published in Albania.

Some of these reports/surveys are listed below.

i. The UNHCHR report on Albania following the third UPR (2019);146

ii. Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against Women on the fourth periodic report of Albania (2016);147

iii. The National strategy and action plan (2016-2020) on gender equal ity;148

iv. National Employment and Skills Strategy (NESS) (2019-2022);149

v. Sectorial strategy on the management of public finances 2019 -2022;150

vi. Statistical data of the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) in the report, Women

and men in Albania 2019;151

vii. Annual Report of the CPD (2017);152

viii. Gender Brief in Albania 2016, an assessment by UN Women Albania and UNDP;153

ix. A pilot study, Public Perceptions and Attitudes toward Gender Equality in Albania

(2016).154

i. The UNHCHR report following the Albanian UPR of 2019 relates the GPG to the

informal labour market in the following finding:155

‘The [CEDAW] Committee was concerned about the concentration of women in the

informal labour market without adequate labour and social protection, the significant

gender wage gap, particularly in the private sector, and the extremely low minimum

wage that disproportionately affected women. The United Nations country team

raised similar concerns.’

146 UNHRC (2019), Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights –

Compilation on Albania, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/ALIndex.aspx.

147 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2016), Concluding Observations on the

fourth periodic report of Albania, available at:

https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW/C/ALB/CO/

4&Lang=En.

148 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2016), National strategy and action plan on gender equality (2016-

2020), available at: https://awenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/SKGJB-EN-web.pdf.

149 Ministry of Finance and Economy (2019), National employment and skills strategy 2019-2022, published in

the Official Journal, No. 144 of 25.10.2019, available at: https://qbz.gov.al/eli/fz/2019.

150 Albania, DCM No. 824, dated 18.12.2019 on the approval of the sectorial strategy on the management of

public finances 2019-2022 (Për miratimin e Strategjisë sektoriale të menaxhimit të financave publike 2019-

2022), published in the Official Journal No. 176, dated 23.12.2019, available at:

https://qbz.gov.al/eli/fz/2019/176/00211fed-b8d1-427a-b503-63b98196924c.

151 INSTAT (2019), Women and men in Albania, available at:

http://www.instat.gov.al/al/publikime/librat/2019/burrat-dhe-grat%C3%AB-n%C3%AB-shqip%C3%ABri-

2019/.

152 Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination (2017), Raport vjetor (Annual Report), available at:

https://www.kmd.al/raporte-vjetore/.

153 UN Women Albania and UNDP (2016), Gender Brief Albania, available at: https://www2.unwomen.org/-

/media/field%20office%20albania/attachments/publications/2016/10/unw%20gender%20brief%20albania

%202016_en_web.pdf?la=en&vs=2652.

154 Dauti, M., Zhllima, E. (2016), Public Perceptions and Attitudes toward Gender Equality in Albania (A Pilot

Study), supported by UNDP Albania and the Government of Sweden), available at:

https://www.undp.org/content/dam/albania/docs/STUDIMI_PERCEPTIMET_eng.pdf.

155 UNHRC (2019), Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Paragraph

34, available at: https://documents-dds-

ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G19/048/44/PDF/G1904844.pdf?OpenElement.

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ii. The Concluding Observations of the CEDAW Committee on the fourth periodic report

of Albania (2016) include the following findings:156

‘The Co mmittee notes with con cern w omen’s concentration in the in formal l abour

market, esp ecially in the te xtile and shoe indu stries, without adequate labour and

social pr otection, and the lack of disaggregated data on th e n umber of wom en in

the informal economy. It is also conce rned that the gender wage gap ,

notwithstanding reported positive develop ments, remains significant, in p articular

in th e privat e s ector, and that the minimum w age remai ns ex tremely low

(approximately $180 a month), disproportionately affecting women. The Committee

is further concerned about the limited access to the formal labour market for women

belonging to ethnic and linguistic minoriti es and women with disabilities, as well a s

about the lack of sex-disag gregated information on labour mig ration to third

countries.’

‘The Committee recommends that the State party (…) take measures to better

estimate and reduce the gender wage gap, in particular in the private sector, by

implementing effectively the principle of equal pay for work of equal value , and

increase the minimum wage.’

iii. The National strategy and action plan (2016-202 0) on gender equality set as

objective 1.1 under strategic goal No. 1: increased participation of women in the

labour market and a reduction in the GPG. 157 The following outcomes are exp ected

in realising this objective, within the achievements of the st rategy:158

• increased participati on of women and girls in the labour m arket as a result of

the implement ation of t he National strategy on employm ent and skills 2014-

2020 under the gender perspective, based on the measures provided for in

this specific objectiv e;

• increased access of w omen and men to em ployment program mes;

• calculation of the GPG based on the Wa ge Structure Survey;

• more effective implementation of the objectives of the National Action Plan for

Women Entreprene urs from 2014 to 2 020;

• increased involvem ent of women in science an d innovation as an opportunity

for their economic empowerment.

iv. The National Employment and Skills Strategy ( NESS) 2019-2022 does not focus on

the GPG. The Albanian Government adopted it on 10 October 2019. It continues with

the same four strategic priorities as the previous NESS (2014-2018) because, in the

midterm evaluation of the implementation of NESS 2014-2018, it was assessed that

these strategic goals were still relevant.

NESS 2019-2022 focuses on the following four strategic priorities:

a. stimulating the possibilities of decent work through fruitful labour market

policies;

b. offering quality education and vocational training for young people and adults;

c. promoting social inclusion and territorial cohesion;

d. strengthening the governance of the labour market and qualification systems.

156 Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (2016), Concluding Observations on the

fourth periodic report of Albania, Paragraphs 30 and 31(b).

157 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2016), National strategy and action plan on gender equality (2016-

2020).

158 Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth (2014), National employment and skills strategy 2014-2020.