The Constitution calls for the promotion of equality of the sexes in social activities and working life, the latter particularly in the determination of remuneration. In practice comparable worth has not been implemented because of the difficulty of establishing criteria, but the Government, employers, unions, and others continue to work on implementation plans. Women's average earnings are 81 percent of those of men, and women still tend to be segregated in lower paying occupations. While women individually have attained leadership positions in the private and public sectors, there are disproportionately fewer women in top management jobs. Some 60 percent of physicians are women.
Women serve in the military.
The Government's Equality Ombudsman monitors compliance with regulations against sexual discrimination. In 1997 the Government began a special program to promote women's equality during the period from 1997 to 1999. This program consists of 30 projects, one of which focuses on violence against women and domestic violence. The project against violence offers support, nationwide, to women in need and to men who wish to combat their own tendencies to resort to violence. This project is regarded as the most significant component of the women's equality program, in that it has helped break the taboo about the subject.