This is explained because, in Mexico, women have the main care role, spending up to 40 hours a week -the equivalent of a full working day- doing housework.
Fernanda García, a women’s specialist in the economy at the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (Imco), explains why this story has not changed in recent years, despite efforts to include women in the Mexican labor market from of various actors.
The economic participation rate of women in the last 17 years has fluctuated between 40% and 45%, says the specialist. But she points out that the approach to this problem in Mexico is recent, compared to other countries. And that the results will take even longer to arrive.
Flexibility for men and women
Valeria Moy, general director of Imco, points out that research in this regard indicates that women, even when they have children or other family occupations, state that they are willing to participate in the labor market, but on the condition that companies grant them greater flexibility. , schedules and work models.
But the flexibility that women ask for should not be focused on them. The specialist indicates that this would only give a double burden to Mexican women, who would have to comply with the work and continue to carry out care work exclusively.
These labor flexibility policies aimed at strengthening care should include men, he explains. “To the extent that we cannot find equality in household responsibilities, it is difficult for women to enter the labor market.”
Nearshoring needs the talent of women
If women in Mexico increased their participation in the labor market to average OECD levels, over the next 10 years, the country would gain up to 15 additional points of Gross Domestic Product, explains Fernanda García.
This calculation is from 2020, approximately, and implied that Mexico added 8 million women to the labor market. This is a way of looking at the economic loss that the country has in a context in which more talent is needed to take advantage of the benefits of nearshoring, says the expert.
Grandmas can’t do it all
Women represent approximately 72% of the non-economically active population. And “when you see the reasons of these women, why they did not look for work, 46% is because they do not have someone to care for their children, the elderly or the sick. In the case of men, this reason only occurs in 5% of cases.
In addition, men continue to do little care work, partly because they have little time and little work flexibility to do it. And, in this sense, public policies and organizational changes must be generated in companies so that they become more involved.
“In Mexico we have to make a transition from a family care system to a system that is co-responsible for households in the private sector and the public sector”, because currently the main source of care is grandmothers, specifically in 55% of infants from zero to five years, argues Fernanda García. Strengthening the public care infrastructure is crucial to harnessing the talent of women.