Regarding the complaints mechanism to be established by all employers under the Gender Equality Act

The Gender Equality Act (Law No. 18/2016), which was ratified in August 2016 and came into force in February 2017, establishes the national legal framework for promoting gender equality, eliminating gender-based discrimination, and ensuring equal opportunities for women and men across political, economic, social and cultural spheres. The Act also provides mechanisms for redress and accountability in cases of gender-based discrimination, and places obligations on state institutions, employers, and other actors.

Section 20 of the Act sets out the responsibilities of public and private sector employers. These include providing equal opportunities to women and men in employment, training and advancement; providing equal compensation and benefits for work of equal value; ensuring that job opportunities are offered and advertised without gender restriction, except in exceptional circumstances; taking all possible steps to remove obstacles to women’s employment and to create a conducive work environment for women; and establishing a complaints mechanism.

Section 20(f) of the Act requires all employers to establish a complaints mechanism, through which employees and jobseekers can file complaints about gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Accordingly, the “Minimum standards for complaints mechanisms to be established by employers under the Gender Equality Act” were gazetted on 12 June 2017. Under Section 30(a) of the Act, employers were required to establish this mechanism within three months of the Act coming into force and to submit the information to this Ministry. Under Section 30(c), action may be taken against entities that have not established a complaints mechanism, including publishing their details and imposing fines.

The Ministry is currently working to determine whether all employers have such a mechanism in place, so that necessary action can be taken and the Act’s implementation status can be monitored. Thus, all employers are requested to share information on their respective office’s complaints mechanism, with reference to the points below. If no such mechanism has been established, all employers are required to establish one before 24 November 2026 and share the requested information.

• Whether the complaints mechanism required under the Gender Equality Act has been established or not established
• If a complaints mechanism has been established, what the composition of the mechanism is (e.g. specific committee for this express purpose, incorporated into the mandate of an existing committee, responsibilities assigned to one or multiple staff)
• If the complaints mechanism is a committee, the name of the committee and the date of its establishment, details of committee members, and documents regarding the committee mandate (e.g. committee’s procedural guideline. standard operating procedure, or memo informing staff of its establishment)
• If the complaints mechanism is via staff member(s), details of staff member(s) and documents showing that they have been assigned responsibilities under the Gender Equality Act (e.g. memo, email, other written document with job description including these responsibilities)
• Statistics on complaints received thus (copies of annual report for every year since the mechanism’s establishment; if no complaints have been received, annual reports will still have to be submitted as per the template, indicating that the number of complaints is zero)

Information pertaining to the above should be shared with the Ministry of Health, Family and Welfare via email at [email protected] by 14:00 on 24 November 2026 (Tuesday). For any queries or clarifications, please contact the Ministry via email or via phone at 3027597. The Gender Equality Act (Dhivehi and unofficial English translation), the minimum standards for the complaints mechanisms to be established by employers under the Gender Equality Act (Dhivehi and unofficial English translation), and the annual report template (Dhivehi and English) can be accessed using the following links and the attached documents.

• Gender Equality Act (Dhivehi): https://gazette.gov.mv/gazette/4010
• Minimum standards for establishing employer complaints mechanisms under the Gender Equality Act (Dhivehi): https://gazette.gov.mv/gazette/4154