52. Maldives ratified the Employment Act in 2008 and joined International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2009. The country ratified the 8 core conventions in January 2013 and enforced in January 2014.42 53. It appears that women remain far more disadvantaged in the labour market than men.43 Women’s labour force participation is lower than men and it has declined between 2006 and 2010 from 42.1 to 38.2 percent.44 Women dominate in sectors such as education, health, social work, agriculture and manufacturing.45 Mean monthly income of a male was MVR 7036 ($ 456) whereas a female earned about a third less of what a male earned, which is MVR 4674 ($ 303) and this ratio is observed across Male’ as well as in the atolls.46 54. Government is the largest employer employing one in every four workers in the country and share of female employers in government is relatively higher than males and increased during this period.47However, figures compiled by Civil Service Commission (CSC) in March 2014 indicate that a small segment of female workers are represented at professional and senior levels of job classifications. While somewhat equivalent representation is observed at middle management, their representation is considerably high at support officer’s level.48 A sizable proportion of them work as administrators, teachers and nurses.49According to data obtained by CSC in March 2014 most female workers earn a monthly salary between MVR 5000‐9000 ($324‐583). 55. One of the recommendations of the Rapid Assessment of the Employment Situation of the Maldives undertaken by HRCM (2009) included introducing new concepts such as compressed workweeks, staggered working time, annualized working hours and flexi time. However, amendments proposed to employment legislation did not reflect such concepts. Government has not taken into account to incorporate them as amendments to the Employment Act, despite periodic meetings conducted with relevant government stakeholders to continue constructive dialogue and monitor implementation of the recommendations put forward in this report. However, it is important to draw attention to the fact that one of the pledges of the current ruling party’s manifesto includes allowing women to work from home. Providentially in 2014, the CSC, amended its regulation to allow flexi hour allowance, and to date only Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance have standardized a procedure for flexi hour application while seven other ministries are working on drafting the procedure.50It is also noteworthy to mention that this is a positive progress since proportion of female representation remains high in the Ministry of Education and Health.51The recent announcement by the Bank of Maldives (national bank) about its plan to introduce flexible working options for Page 20 of 35