Introduction
Despite progress in women’s economic participation, labor conditions in Mexico still face deep-rooted disparities. With 5.5 million economic units, less than 1% (approximately 40,000) have collective labor contracts, limiting formal negotiation for gender-focused labor conditions.
Who is Alma Ruby Villareal?
Alma Ruby Villareal, a former labor court judge and Bolonia scholar, emphasizes that while women participate in the workforce, they lack negotiation power. This gap explains why economic independence hasn’t translated into real equality.
Key Structural Barriers
- Low Formal Participation: Only 46% of women participate in the labor market compared to 75% of men, with most lacking social security and full access to rights.
- Occupational Segregation and High Informality: Women dominate low-paying sectors like commerce, services, and caregiving. 55% work in informal settings without benefits or job security.
- Wage Gap: On average, women earn 19% less than men for the same work. The disparity is even greater among rural workers and indigenous women.
- Workplace Violence and Discrimination: Over one-third of women experience workplace violence, with insufficient legal frameworks to distinguish between harassment and bullying.
- Digital Divide: 63% of women lack digital skills, limiting access to better-paying jobs and emerging sectors in the digital economy.
- Caregiving Burden: Absence of structured care policies forces millions of women to choose between employment and family responsibilities, hindering their job retention and advancement.
Insufficient Implementation of Reforms
Experts Patricia Kurczyn and Villareal acknowledge progress, such as the 2019 labor reform, OIT Convention ratification, and the 2024 constitutional amendment for substantive equality. However, implementation remains inadequate.
Representation Gaps
Only 15%-16% of general secretaries in unions are led by women, and major unions remain under male leadership. Similarly, 36% of companies have salary gap policies, and only 40% actively promote equitable remuneration strategies, despite 53% having conducted diagnostics.
Structural Approach Needed
Experts stress that achieving equality requires structural changes, coordination between the state, businesses, and unions, and a national care policy recognizing the economic value of unpaid work.
Italian Perspective
Valeria Nuzzo from the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli explains that the gender wage gap isn’t just about base salary differences but is linked to how women’s work is distributed in historically undervalued sectors.
She notes that when a sector becomes predominantly female, it loses social prestige and economic value. For example, the education sector, once male-dominated with authority and better pay, is now seen as non-strategic and undervalued due to its female majority.
Nuzzo also highlights interrupted labor trajectories, where fewer accumulated work years due to lack of shared caregiving responsibilities result in lower incomes, smaller pensions, and a structural wage ceiling.
She points out that informal “maternity penalty” affects promotions, advancements, and performance evaluations. Although Europe has a robust legal framework to combat wage disparity, these norms were initially driven by economic competition rather than genuine equality recognition.
