In Mexico, the talent of women is wasted. The country is below the global average of working women and its 32 states face challenges in providing equal working conditions.
This was determined by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), in its analysis of the #ConLupaDeGénero States 2022, in which it found that the entities are failed in granting optimal working conditions for women and that in each one a different reality is lived.
While in states such as Colima the female economic participation rate is almost 56% – similar to that of the United States, according to World Bank data – in other entities, such as Chiapas, its rate is 31%. However, a greater number of women in the labour market does not guarantee optimal conditions for them.
There are also large gaps between the five states where there is better job performance: Mexico City, Baja California Sur, Baja California, Colima and Nuevo León; compared to those with worse conditions: Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Veracruz, Tlaxcala and Chiapas.
#ConLupaDeGénero States 2022, IMCO.
In the best performing states, a woman spends on average 67.8% more hours on unpaid work, but in other states she spends 76.1% of hours a week, which represents a difference of 8.3%.
The percentage of women with at least upper secondary education is 1.4% higher in the best performing states and the percentage of women in informality is 1.6% higher.
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However, all regions of Mexico have barriers that hinder the entry, permanence and growth of women in the labor market.
Even in the entities with the greatest capacity to retain women at work, there are important challenges: in Aguascalientes and Nuevo León, women earn 17% less than men; and in Mexico City, 21 per cent of women work more than 48 hours a week.
#ConLupaDeGénero States 2022, IMCO.
Therefore, the IMCO concluded that “no entity meets the optimal conditions to ensure that women remain in the market.”
“Entities are key to achieving changes in women’s participation in the economy. Therefore, it is important that state governments address the main challenge faced by all entities: generating incentives to offer quality jobs that allow women to continue in the paid economy,” she concluded.
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