In recent years, Mexico has increased its efforts to promote women’s equality in the labor force. The gender wage gap in the country has decreased from 20% reported in 2005. However, progress has been slow, and women continue to face significant barriers to participation in the public sector, including competing responsibilities within their families and communities, persisting gender stereotypes and biases, and the reality of violence and harassment within the workplace.
In November 2022, the wage gap between men and women was reported as 15.6% by the Borgen Project, meaning that, on average, Mexican women earn 85 pesos per every 100 pesos earned by men for similar work. This inequality impacts women’s decisions to enter the workforce and perpetuates the oppression of women within their workplaces.
Two landmark resolutions, the 2019 Mexican Labor Reform and the United States – Mexico – Canada Agreement (USMCA), include provisions to promote gender equality in workplaces and workers’ organizations (WOs) and protect women workers.
The Improving Substantive Gender Equality in the Mexican Workplace Project (GEM), financed by the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) and implemented by Partners of the Americas (Partners), works within the frameworks of the 2019 Labor Reform and the USMCA, engaging workers, WOs, and employers to increase their capacity to comply with the provisions of these resolutions and protect and promote the rights of women within their institutions.
This International Women’s Day on March 8, Partners would like to highlight the objectives, methods, and accomplishments of the GEM project as our team continues working to defend the rights of women workers.
Since December 2021, GEM has worked closely with local implementing partners and key stakeholders to develop and refine a strategy for increasing women’s participation within WOs and improving institutional policies and protocols for preventing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH). By working with civil society organizations, nonprofits, government institutions, WOs, and employers, the project employs a comprehensive strategy to generate positive and sustainable changes within workplaces and WOs. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the project has been working with its implementing partners Centro de Reflexión y Acción Laboral, Más Proyectos, la Red de Mujeres Sindicalistas, and Transforma MyM to identify the expertise and capacities of each organization to contribute to GEM’s objectives.
In May 2022, GEM conducted a Needs Assessment in the project’s two target sectors (electronics manufacturing and call centers), in its three target geographical regions: Chihuahua, Jalisco, and the Metropolitan Zone of the Mexican Valley. The study consisted of focus groups and interviews with key stakeholders, intended to help the project better understand the realities and challenges faced by women workers within their workplaces and WOs.
The findings of the assessment helped Partners to refine the activities and goals of the GEM project, highlighting four key objectives: 1.) increase the number of women in WO leadership, 2.) strengthen protections for workers, 3.) combat violence, discrimination, and harassment in the workplace, and 4.) reduce the gender wage gap.
In November 2022, after the finalization of the project design and strategy, GEM held its official kick-off event at the Museum of Memory and Tolerance in Mexico City. The event was attended by USDOL officials, the Partners team, representatives from the Government of Mexico, implementing partners, union leaders, workers, and other key stakeholders. Through the event, the project was able to engage and begin relationships with WOs and employers with whom Partners will seek to reach agreements to secure these entities’ participation in the project. Partners continues its outreach to WOs and employers in GEM’s priority sectors to form productive relationships that will benefit women workers and union members.
Currently, the GEM project is working to conduct a baseline study. This study will gather qualitative and quantitative baseline information that will be used to measure project advancement throughout implementation. With the completion of the study this spring, GEM will begin conducting activities directly with WOs, employers, and women workers to build their capacities to comply with the gender provisions of the 2019 Labor Reform and USMCA. These activities have been designed, in partnership with GEM’s implementing partners, to generate structural changes for the sustained promotion of women’s equal participation and protection within their workplaces and WOs.
To learn more about the GEM project and our activities, follow us on Twitter @TrabajoIgualdad and Facebook @Igualdad en Trabajo.
Funding is provided by the United States Department of Labor under cooperative agreement Number IL-37953-21-75-K-. 100% of the total costs of the project or program is financed with federal funds, for a total of 10 million dollars.
