A/HRC/34/57 labour law provisions. 45 In Greece and Portugal, the implementation of the labour law reforms was concomitant with a steep rise in unemployment and a significant increase in the number of precarious employment contracts. C. Impact of labour rights weakening 36. The weakening of labour rights under structural adjustment programmes has entailed adverse implications for other human rights. For example, in Zimbabwe, substantial layoffs in the public sector, among other factors, reportedly pushed a number of workers and their families into poverty and homelessness, affecting their right to food and adequate housing.46 Austerity-related labour law reforms undertaken in the course of the eurozone crisis are — together with reforms of pension systems — expected to result in widespread old-age poverty. 47 In Greece, the income loss brought about by the austerity measures, labour law reforms and the scaling down of the public sector have led to an increase in poverty, in particular among workers in the private sector, which has been exacerbated by the lack of a social security system capable of providing for sufficient relief. 48 37. In several instances, structural adjustment programmes have aggravated already existing inequalities in the countries concerned, for example, through the reduction of the labour share in relation to gross domestic product. Adverse effects entailed by structural adjustments have often particularly affected the female workforce. For example, during the implementation of the structural adjustment programme in Mexico, the average wages of women were found to decrease more sharply than those of the male workforce. 49 The downsizing and privatization of State-owned companies have often affected female employment disproportionately. 50 38. The increase in female participation in the labour market during economic crises often concerned mainly the informal sector. 51 Regarding the adjustment programme in Greece, ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations highlighted the risk that the deregulation of the labour market could affect the salary level of women in a disproportionate manner. 52 Meanwhile, a study examining the gender gap in Ireland, Italy and Portugal found the tendency of a narrowing gender gap in terms of unemployment as economic sectors with a predominantly male workforce, for example the construction sector, tended to be more affected by the economic crisis. Nonetheless, as the scaling down of the public sector in those countries unfolds, 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Kamal A. Munir, Natalya Naqvi and Adaner Usmani, “The abject condition of labor in Pakistan”, International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 87 (2015), p. 179. Saliwe M. Kawewe and Robert Dibie, “The impact of economic structural adjustment programs [ESAPs] on women and children: implications for social welfare in Zimbabwe”, The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, vol. 27, No. 4 (2000), pp. 94-96. Christoph Hermann, “Structural adjustment and neoliberal convergence in labour markets and welfare” (note 7 above), p. 127. See A/HRC/31/60/Add.2. See Diana Alarcon-Gonzalez and Terry McKinley, “The adverse effects of structural adjustment on working women in Mexico”, Latin American Perspectives, vol. 26, No. 3 (1999), p. 115. For India, see Sasmita Palo, Nayantara Padhi and Sweta Panigrahi, “Labour standards in the aftermath of structural adjustment programme” (note 41 above), p. 390. See Khadija Ali, “Gender exploitation: from structural adjustment policies to poverty reduction strategies”, Pakistan Development Review, vol. 42, No. 4 (2003), p. 675 with further references. ILO Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, Observation adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013), Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), Greece. 13