Bridging the gender gap

The Mexican population is comprised mostly of women (51.4%). This slight majority, however, doesn't reflect the weight women have in several fields of our country, such as politics, corporations, science, etc.

The female presence in fields where their involvement was previously forbidden is increasing little by little in Mexico and in other parts of the world, but at a faster speed in some more than others.

In Mexico , women have increased their presence in the work environment but according to recent figures, there are still gaps left to bridge.

According to the information published today by EL UNIVERSAL , from the approximately 800,000 jobs offered last year, 356,000 were given to women – below the 445,000 that were given to men. That is, out of 10 job offers available in 2017, 6 were given to men and 4 to women.

While the figures show progress, it's evident women still have a slow penetration in the job market. In 20 years, the number of women affiliated to the National Institute of Social Security (IMSS) barely rose from 32.9% to 37.2%.

Another area where we can see gender equality is still something Mexico has to work on is the pay gap. While the average wage of a woman affiliated to the IMSS is MXN$306 (roughly, US$16.4) per day, for men it's MXN$349 (US$18.7). It seems in our country it's still common practice to offer reduced wages to women, even though men in a similar position earn more. Countries such as Iceland have modified their laws to declare gender pay gap illegal.

Statistics reflect a Mexican population in which a little over a half of it is female, a sector with a greater presence in the job market but whose effort is not fully compensated. Mexico will have better prospects the day all women have full access to education and to the job market.

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