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The feminization of poverty and the economic impact of public policies in

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 The feminization of poverty and the economic impact of public
policies in Mexico and Jalisco

Draft paper for discussion at ISA 2011 Annual Convention, Montreal

Ruth Elizabeth Pradoa and Eva Maria Gonzalezb

a
Sociopolitical and Juridical Studies Department, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente
b
(ITESO); and Bussiness School, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus
Guadalajara

Abstract

This paper evaluates the economic impact of the federal public policies, which have

incorporated the gender perspective in their design and implementation at both, national,

and Jalisco’s level. The paper looks at different indicators to illustrate the situation of

women regarding poverty, economy, education, participation and citizenship.

Key words

Feminization of poverty, public policies, gender equality, gender perspective, economic

impact.

From March 1th to 12th, 2010, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the “Beijing

+ 15” meeting took place. The meeting aimed at reviewing and discussing the situation,

challenges and progress made on the implementation of the measures established on the

Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, both emblematic international instruments

of the struggle against gender inequality, fifteen years before. This meeting represents a

good opportunity for evaluating the steps taken by the Mexican government and Jalisco’s

1
state government regarding the feminization of poverty at both national and state levels.

The feminization of poverty is with no doubt the greatest challenge of gender inequity

because on one hand, it is an essential requirement for the successful implementation of

women’s human rights (WHR), and on the other, it impacts directly the exercise of other

rights. This article examines the achievements and challenges that the implementation of

public policies has had on the fight against women poverty in Mexico and Jalisco. Beyond

reviewing the indicators that may provide an account of the situation of poor women in

Mexico and Jalisco and the relation between poverty and women, our objective is to

evaluate whether public policies have been able to address the feminization of poverty. To

that end, it is important to establish that the feminization of poverty should not be

understood as the high level of poverty between women as a result of the lack of an

income, but as the multidimensional poverty which are caused by focused the adverse

conditions resulting from gender inequity.

In the first part, a review of Mexico’s participation in international forums that have set the

path for the struggle against the inequality of gender is made. Here, the commitments

made and the lines of action are examined. In the second part, the notion of poverty, both

in its material and non-material dimensions is analyzed. In this section, the feminization of

poverty and the challenges needed to mitigate it will be tackled. The third section

emphasizes the importance of gender equity as a condition to break the cycle that

perpetuates the feminization of poverty. The final part reviews the incorporation of the

gender perspective on public policy design and implementation in Mexico, examining

some the main programs, and some indicators that account for the results and challenges

of such policies.

2
International initiatives concerning women and poverty

The Commission on Status of Women (CSW) was created in 1946 (UN. Res. 11[II]) as a

functional Commission of the Economic and Social Council of United Nations with the aim

of analyzing issues related to gender equity and the progress of women. Through

formulating recommendations and encouraging the study and inclusion of topics related to

women, the Commission has become the most influential instance in the design of gender

equity policies at the international level. To that purpose, the CSW has organized four

international conferences to analyze the situation of women around the world and in each

of them the condition of women in poverty and women and development, or the lack of it,

has emerged.

The First World Conference on Women took place in Mexico (1975) during the

international women’s year. The topic of the Conference was “Equality, Development and

Peace”. In this conference, participants called states to encourage integration and full

participation of women in development. The Conference’s Platform of Action established

as one of its goals, to guarantee equal access for women and men to resources such as

education and job opportunities (UN, 2010). The Conference in Mexico marks the

beginning of the transformation of the role of women in development. Women, until then

seen only as passive recipients of support and assistance and beneficiaries of the

resources produced by development, began to be seen as producers of it, with the same

rights to resources and opportunities than men, but still a long way from exercising those

rights.

One of the most important mechanisms on the way to equality between men and women is

the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), approved

in 1979, before the following World Conference in Copenhagen. This Convention has been

called “the women human rights charter” and currently it is legally binding for 165 States.
3
In Copenhagen in 1980, when evaluating the progress made on achieving the goals set

out in the Platform of Action five years before, participants realized that, despite

governmental actions to promote and guarantee women’s rights, the necessary conditions

for women to exercise their rights had not yet been developed. Therefore, the disparity

between given rights and the capacity of women to exercise them became the objective of

analysis and action of the World Conference. To that purpose, three areas with their

particular goals were established to address the problem. Two of those areas, equality of

access to education and job opportunities1 made it clear once again that there were huge

setbacks on the inclusion of women to development and the (formal) productive processes

linked to the production of wealth. Hence, the Program of Action of Copenhagen

encouraged, among others, the adoption of measures that could guarantee women’s rights

over property and land control (UN, 2010).

Five years later, in 1985, in Nairobi, it was clear that the efforts to reduce the gender gap

in the past decade had produced marginal achievements. Therefore, what was needed

was a new approach, wider and inclusive of all the areas of human interaction. In

particular, the 155 participant states were called to adopt the necessary measures at the

national level to encourage the participation of women on decision-making, not only those

decisions related with women, but decision-making in general.

On these issues, in 1995 the World Conference was celebrated in Beijing. This was

considered the top Summit for gender equality. In Beijing, there was a redefinition of the

approach used for dealing with gender inequity, moving the focus of the analysis from

women to the notion of gender. It was then recognized that there exists a dominant

structure that rules the lives of men and women, which needed to be reevaluated and

restructured to achieve the necessary changes for fully potentiating the role of women on

society, institutions and on the development process.

4
The Beijing’s Platform for action identifies twelve areas of concern2 that may be obstacles

for gender equity; one of them is “women and poverty”. On the delimitation of this area, the

Commission expressed at Beijing its concern not only for the number of women who live in

poverty, but also for the obstacles that the prevailing economic structures imposed on

them which in turn makes it more difficult for them to satisfy their needs and get

opportunities to go out of poverty. Since 1995, when there were one billion poor people in

the world, most of them were women, and the situation has not significantly changed.

The four strategic objectives to help women in poverty that are established in the Platform

for Action are: 1. To review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and

developmental strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty; 2. To

revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women’s equal rights and access to

economic resources; 3. To provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms

and institutions; 4. To develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to

address the feminization of poverty. The achievement of these objectives requires an

active participation of governments, enterprises and financial institutions in the design and

implementation of efficient measures to reduce poverty. Nevertheless, to evaluate the

achievements of these objectives it is necessary to carefully examine the notion of poverty

in the first place, which will lead to the analysis of its feminization.

Poverty: a complex and multidimensional phenomena

Even though there is not a unanimously accepted definition of poverty, there is a general

agreement about the material aspects of poverty usually linked to the economic and

monetary conditions that determine the purchasing power within the market. But a broader

notion of poverty incorporates non-material dimensions that make a human being poor.

5
According to Perez Orozco (2003:2), a less orthodox notion of poverty would include the

lack of diverse resources, including economic, cultural, self-esteem, time availability,

space, leisure, freedom and even political rights.

In order to address poverty from a multidimensional perspective, in Mexico, the National

Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Consejo Nacional de Evaluación

de la Política de Desarrollo Social, CONEVAL) has developed a methodology3. CONEVAL

estimates that in 2008 there were 47.19 million people experiencing a multidimensional

poverty in Mexico, and 2.54 million of these were in Jalisco. The indicators that CONEVAL

takes into account to measure the multidimensional character of poverty are based on the

“social deprivations” illustrated in table 1.

Incidence indicators National Jalisco

Million Million
Social deprivation indicators Percentage Percentage
people people
Educational backwardness 21.7 23.16 21.2 1.48
Health services access 40.7 43.38 37.2 2.59
Social security access 64.7 68.99 57.6 4.01
Quality and housing 17.5 18.62 9.7 0.68
Basic housing services access 18.9 20.13 9.5 0.66
Food access 21.6 23.06 17.80 1.24
Table 1. Percentage of Multidimensional Poverty Mexico 2008.
Source: CONEVAL estimations based in the IMC_ENIGH 2008.

Still, the prevailing poverty vision is the economic one, which, as it has been said, depends

on the monetary transactions of the market. This vision has inspired international

governments and organizations in the design of programs and action plans. This way, at

an international level, material poverty is the one that has been addressed since the end of

World War II, and it has also defined the notion of development understood as economic

growth (Thomas, 2000: 647). As a result, in the predominant discourse, the lack of

development equals poverty and therefore, it is located in Third World countries. But

beyond the official discourse, it is certain that material poverty in the world has a woman’s

6
face. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), a

disproportionate percentage of poverty in the world corresponds to women. UNIFEM

estimates that 70 percent of poor people in the world are women and the implications of

this is more significance, not only because they are devoid of basic rights, but because this

also perpetuates their isolated role in decision making to change their environment

(UNIFEM, 2010).

The feminine face of poverty was called in the 70s “feminization of poverty”, but it was not

until the mid 90s that the term was added to the lexicon associated with development

(Chant, 2008: 166). Nevertheless, it is important to make clear that feminization of poverty

does not simply refer to high levels of poverty among women. These are more a state of

being, while feminization is a process (Ibid: 169). This concept refers to certain

characteristics that can be appreciated in the next box:

Women experience a higher poverty incidence than men.

Women experience a more severe and deeper poverty than men.
Women tend to suffer a more persistent and long term poverty than men.
The burden of poverty in women shows a relative increase compared with men.
Women face more challenges to get out of poverty.
Feminization of poverty is related with feminization of the household head.
Families with feminine head of households are the poorest of the poor.
Poor families with feminine head of households transmit poverty to children.
Box 1. Characteristics of the feminization of poverty
4
Source: various .

Wennerholm (2002: 10) says that the thesis of feminization of poverty, attracts more than

attention to the large number of poor women, but has had relevant implications for its

analysis. It does so by highlighting the impact of macroeconomic politics over women, by

rethinking the role of women in development processes and, by promoting the awareness

of the existence and vulnerability of women as head of households. Clearly then, any

action that pretends to tackle economic poverty, in which millions of women in the world

7
live, has to consider its approach and the aspects characterizing feminization of poverty,

because only by doing this, can one develop the processes to tackle women poverty.

The gender perspective in the building of an equitable society

Mexico was not only the venue of the First World Conference on Women (1975); it has

also actively participated in other initiatives and international forums on the matter. Mexico

signed the CEDAW in 1980 and the next year it was ratified, acquiring the contracts it

imparted. The most important one is the inclusion of gender perspective (GP) in all

government levels for the design and implementation of public policies, as it is established

in the National Development Plan 2007-2012 (Presidencia de la República, 2010). With

this purpose, the National Institute on Women (Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres,

INMUJERES) was founded in 2001, a public and decentralized agency from the public

federal administration to whom it was given the responsibility of promoting the

improvement of the social condition of women.

The inclusion of the GP in the public policies design denotes a clear course change in

governmental efforts on fighting against poverty, in which million of women live in Mexico.

Whereas that at the end of the 80s and mid 90s the “Women Solidarity” (Solidaridad

Mujeres) and “Progress” programs were trying to tackle gender inequity with

compensatory actions like economic support through community infrastructure building

and establishment of dairy farms and sown fields; INMUJERES creation introduces

strategies such as opportunity equality, affirmative actions and transversality (Avila and

Gonzalez, 2009:6).

For the implementation of GP in states and municipalities, the institutions that coordinate it

were created inside their respective jurisdictions. In the case of Jalisco, this activity is

8
realized through the “Jalisco Institute on Women” (Instituto Jalisciense de las Mujeres,

IJM) that was created in 2001. In municipalities, on the other hand, the strategies for the

implementation of the GP are carried out throughout “CE-women”, which legal nature is

coordinated by their town councils and varies for each municipality (Avila and Gonzalez,

2009: 8).

Currently, one of the most important duties of INMUJERES is to operate the National

Program for Equality among Women and Men (Programa Nacional para la Igualdad entre

Mujeres y Hombres, PROIGUALDAD). This program gathers governmental endeavors to

guarantee women’s human rights (WHR) by the establishment of basic action guides that

guarantee access to justice and security as well as the strengthening of women’s capacity

to enhance its economy for more welfare and development opportunities (INMUJERES,

2010). As a result of these initiatives, some laws were enacted, like the Access to a Free

Life of Violence General Law, the Equality among Men and Women Law, and the

Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination Law. Such laws initiated a series of actions

and institutional adjustments to reduce gender inequity.

INMUJERES holds that in Mexico the conditions and irreversible transformations

necessary to construct an authentic equality culture are being created. Nevertheless, it

also points out that one of the main difficulties is the establishment of agreements and

compromises on gender with agencies in the three governmental levels. Due to that, this is

still a very long process that the personnel in public agencies are in constant rotation,

which hinders the GP incorporation in the planning and/or action, programs and projects

definition (INMUJERES, 2009. 3). According to INMUJERES, human and financial

resources are still insufficient to complete some agencies’ will and politic compromises.

This, at the same time, prevents total harmonization of the national legislation with the

international commitments acquired through binding documents (Ibid: 4).

9
Poverty Alleviation Public Policies in Mexico and Jalisco

Before continuing with the analysis, it is necessary to clarify two key concepts. The first

one refers to gender inequity and the second to public policies.

Gender is a cultural construction of sexual difference. The notion of gender is dynamic,

because it changes with every epoch and social group. As a result of this construction,

series of psychological, social, political and cultural characteristics have been assigned to

gender. They have shaped the type of power relation between men and women and, in

consequence, their opportunities to develop. When one talks about gender equity it has

been recognized that there are specific features for men and women, but in spite of them,

when interacting and in their environment, there should be no discrimination. Equity

appeals to equality and justice but taking into consideration the differences between them.

In this sense, public policy design is needed to incorporate the GP, since only by doing this

the needs of men and women would be differentially attended to end inequality.

Public policies, no matter what area they work in, are understood as the governmental

action addressed to take charge of public matter. Through laws, regulations and courses

of action among others, governments develop, define and implement strategies to tackle

public interest issues. The Mexican government has developed and implemented seven

specific public policies to reduce gender inequity in: poverty, reproductive health,

comprehensive health for women, gender violence, gender mechanisms, WHR and labor

(Avila and Gonzalez, 2009: 6).

Those public policies can be evaluated in reference to the strategic objectives that were

established in the Platform for Action in Beijing for this purpose. Table 2 enumerates the

most relevant public policies aimed at achieving each one of these objectives. As it can be

seen, the federal government has developed specific programs to address poverty among

10
women in Mexico, and to implement them; the three different governmental levels are

involved.

Area Public policies and actions

Macroeconomic
policies and
developmental
strategies
Rights’ equality and
access to economic
resources
Access to credit and
saving institutions
Research lines and
methodologies
Table 2. Federal Policies on Gender Equity, Mexico.
Source: personal elaboration.
PROIGUALDAD
Opportunities
To live better
Food Support and Rural Supply Program
Scholarships to Young Mothers and Pregnant Young Women
Program
National Higher Education Scholarships Program
GP institutionalization
General Law for Equality between Women and Men (2006)
Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence General Law
(2007)
PROIGUALDAD
Mexican Norm for the Incorporation of Labor Equality Policies
and Practices between women and men
Women in the Agriculture Sector Program (PROMUSA)
Program to Strengthen Rural Business and Organizations
(PROFEMUR)
Productive Boost for Women Program (IPM)
Productive Organization for Indigenous Women Program
(POPMI)
Micro-entrepreneurs Funding National Program (PRONAFIM)
Micro-financing to Rural Women Fund (FOMMUR)
National Fund to Support Solidarity Business (FONAES)
National Trust Fund for Cooperatives Promotion (FIFONAFE)
CONEVAL’s Multidimensional Measurement of Poverty
Methodology for the Incorporation of the GP in Public Budget
Opportunities for Low Income Women in Rural Areas
Observance of Housing and Poverty Perceptions from the
Gender Approach
“What Poor People Say” Survey

As it was pointed out previously, PROIGUALDAD serves as a guiding program for the

inclusion of GP in public administration. For such reason this program identifies seven

strategic objectives5 and one of them deals with poverty on women. This way,

PROIGUALDAD establishes as its strategic objective number six: to boost economic

diligence of women in favor of greater opportunities for their welfare and development. For

11
this, programs were implemented to strengthen women capacities and to improve their

economic situation, and with this allow their insertion to the developmental process in its

traditional definition. It is important to mention that obtaining economic resources can

precede from three fields –market, state (through public services) and home (through

some community works) (Perez Orozco, 2003: 3)- but public policies seem to be directed

to the first.

To evaluate achievements on the matter in public policies, it is necessary to first examine

indicators that account for their impact in the reduction of gender inequity. Second, it is

required to review public policies and developed programs made to such purpose as to

evaluate their congruency in the two governmental levels. The above will allow us to

analyze in which extent these policies successes address the feminization of poverty

beyond poverty in women.

Analysis of the impact of public policies in gender equity in Jalisco

As it has been previously examined, the concept of poverty is multidimensional and

emphasized public policies in the above section have multidimensional objectives that

work in the areas of: poverty, economy, education, health care, decision making, violence

and stereotypes.

The following section focuses on the specific analysis of how these public policies are

transforming the existing reality from a gender perspective. The question that emerges

from this context is, what has been the result of these public policies and actions? To give

an answer, this work proposes the scrutiny and analysis of some poverty, economic, and

educational indicators as direct estimations of a first real impact of these policies. Other

indicators such as health, violence and stereotypes are left aside for two reasons: the

available space and even more important, for being a very specialized area in which

12
experts have already elaborated solid works (Azaola 2010; Enciso 2007; Collblack and

Bhushan 2007).

Women and Poverty

It can be said that poor individuals are limited in exercising their rights as citizens when it

is shown that they do not have a guaranteed access to goods and basic services. From

this point of view they are subjects of marginalization without access to education, health,

welfare, housing, etc. In this sense, poverty becomes a more severe issue for women who

already face marginalization and situations of inequity. Poverty, therefore, heightens the

situation of in this part of the population. Specifically, the analysis of poverty from a gender

perspective can be done in relation to homes situation, based on their female or male

head of household. To analyze the specific situation in terms of poverty, poverty indicators

developed by CONEVAL (2007) are taken up again. CONEVAL distinguishes three types

of poverty: food (FP), capabilities (CP) and patrimony (PP)6. In the following table and line

graph, the results of homes by poverty and head of household (male vs. female) are

shown, being evident in both cases the upsurge of patrimony poverty against the rest of

the kinds of poverty.

FP CP PP 50
45
Year Male Female Male Female Male Female 40
35 2000
2000 19.46 14.39 26.13 21.29 47.26 38.9 30 2002
25
2002 16.03 13.87 22.11 18.41 43.29 38.98 2004
20
2004 14.04 13.14 20.27 18.73 40.28 37.92 15 2005
10
5 2006
2005 14.45 12.77 20.06 17.44 40.48 36.64
0
2006 10.79 10.05 16.78 14 36.49 32.36 FP CP PP

Table 3 and graphic 1. Percentage of women and

men by poverty type, Mexico, 2000-2006.

13
Source: CONEVAL

Note: The line graph shows in each line the

analyzed year, and the dots indicate first the
situation of male head of households and second
the situation of female head of household by type
of poverty.

According to that official data from CONEVAL, feminine poverty has not only decreased in

the analyzed years (2000-2006), but it has also done it above with male as head of

households. Even though there is a significant rise on poverty in rural areas regarding

urban areas, this has happened in both male and female head of household homes. This

explains public interest for developing credit programs to these particularly depressed

zones (e.g. FOMMUR).

Data Food Poverty Capabilities Poverty Patrimonial Poverty

2006 Male Female Male Female Male Female
Urban 5.62 6.78 10.76 10.18 29.76 27.90
Rural 20.22 17.08 22.76 22.20 48.79 41.93
Table 4. Percentage of poor homes, National, Female head of household by urban and rural regions 2006.
Source: Inmujeres, based on ENIGH 2006 and methodologies from CONEVAL for poverty lines.

This study takes as an example the Jalisco case. It is important to mention that Jalisco is

the state with the third highest GDP in the country and it is the second highest with

economic growth generated in the 2006-07 period (INEGI 2007). However, the state is

located in the 14th place out of the 32 states in the country regarding the Gender-related

Development Index (GDI)7, with a GDI index of 0.8157, slightly higher than the National

with 0.8145. Data available for Jalisco in 2005, the last updated year, show in general

lower figures than the national averages. Unfortunately, there is no disaggregated data by

sex or head of households to complement this analysis from a gender perspective.

14
 2000 2005

Type of Poverty Mexico Jalisco Mexico Jalisco

Food Poverty 24.1 13.8 18.1 10.9

Capabilities Poverty 31.8 20 24.7 17.2

Patrimony Poverty 53.6 41.3 47 41.6

Table 5. Poverty by income 2005.

Source: CONEVAL and COEPO Jalisco.

In an individual perspective of poverty between men and women, it is evident that poverty

in Mexico has declined in the period 2000-2006. The most significant is again the upsurge

of the levels of patrimonial poverty. Even more, in this poverty level where women are

poorer than men and the difference in absolute points is not very significant, it is still

consistent throughout time (see table 5).

FP CP PP 60
55
Año Men Wom Men Wom Men Wom 50
45
23.8 31.8 40 2000
2000 24.4 8 7 31.65 53.52 53.68 35 2002
30
19.9 26.9 25 2004
2002 20 4 5 26.95 49.71 50.24 20
2005
15
17.3 17.4 24.7 10 2006
2004 4 4 6 24.64 46.91 47.5 5
0
18.2 18.2 24.7 FP CP PP
2005 9 9 3 24.67 46.87 47.21

13.4 13.4 20.2

2006 1 1 5 21.04 42.34 42.88

Table 6 and graphic 2: Percentage of poor homes by

household, Mexico and Jalisco 2000-2006.
Source: estimated from CONEVAL, based on the II
Counting on Population and housing 2005, and
ENIGH 2005.

Note: The line graph shows in each line the year and
the dots indicate first the situation of male head of
households and second the situation of female head
of household by type of poverty.

15
Source: CONEVAL

In general, the analysis may show that there has been a decrease in poverty. From 2002

to 2005 poverty has considerably decreased, but still presents concerning levels.

Especially alarming is patrimonial poverty, measured in base of citizen’s access to basic

services as food, housing, health, etc. and, it is precisely in this poverty level where

feminine poverty is situated. It could be said then, that feminization of poverty has moved

from levels of extreme subsistence to levels of basic opportunity. In accordance with these

results, homes with female head of households are not in general terms poorer than those

with male head of households. However, women as individuals are in fact experiencing

more poverty than men in the aspects that guarantee their incorporation to society as

citizens with full rights. In other words, public policies have had positive effects in the

reduction of poverty, but not necessarily on the feminization of poverty.

Women and Economy

Adopting a classic economic perspective in the analysis of gender equity implies reviewing

indicators like: global employment and unemployment, activity in economic sectors and

salary levels, among others. The review is made previously at a national level and regional

indicators are integrated to Jalisco in data with updated information.

This first graph compares the percentage of active population by men and women in a 10

years period is compared, taking as a starting point the year 1995, year when the Beijing

Conference took place, and finishing in 2004.

16
 100
90
80
70
60
50
Women
40
30 men
20
10
0
1996

2001
1995

1997
1998
1999
2000

2002
2003
2004

Graphic 3. Percentage of employed population, Mexico (1995-2004).

Source: INEGI National Employment Survey (1995-2004)

The line graph shows a gradual increase in women incorporated into the labor force at

almost 1% a year, against a decrease of men’s jobs in the same years. This incorporation

of women into the labor force, although significant, still reflects a clear gap between both

populations (in 2004: 35% women and 64.66% men). In the Jalisco case the percentages

show an even bigger gap. For 2000, year with disaggregated data per region, Jalisco

represented an employment rate for women at 33.61%, slightly a point less than the

national average at 34.15%. Nevertheless, in 2009 there is a considerable rise: 39.6% of

employed persons are women (COEPO-INEGI, 2009), which implies an important

quantitative progress in respect to the type of growth with more than 5 points in only 9

years (2000-2009).

This encouraging increase in female employment seems at first impression to account for

an advance towards gender equity in economic terms. However, if the employment

population per sector data is examined more carefully, a very traditional pattern is evident:

female employment is still relegated to the commerce and service sectors, as it is shown in

the next bar graph (graphic 4), where it can be seen 69.4% of formal female employment

is in the mentioned sectors, while for Jalisco 80% of female employment is in the service

sector, 16.9% in the industry and only 2.1% in the primary sector (in 2009).

17
Graphic 4. Percentage of Employed Population by activity branch by sex, Mexico 2004.
Source: INEGI, National Survey of Employment (2004).

This approach is complemented with the unemployment and self-employment analysis

represented in graphics 5 and 6. The first one shows a greater instability in female labor

market against male market, where women have the highest unemployment percentage

(see graphic 5). And, the second proves the challenge for women in terms of self-

employment, since the percentage of self-employed women (33.99 in 2004) is half the

percentage of men (66.01 in 2004).

10.00 100
9.00 90
8.00 80
7.00 70
6.00 60
5.00 50
Women Women
4.00 40
Men 30 Men
3.00
2.00 20
1.00 10
0.00 0

Graphic 5. Unemployment percentage, Mexico Graphic 6. Percentage of Self-employment,

(1995-2004) Mexico (1995-2004)
Source: INEGI, National Employment Survey Source: INEGI, National Employment Survey
(1995-2004) (1995-2004)

18
Another traditional debate has been situated around the matter of perceived wages for

men and women. This debate has two lines of work: number one, to guarantee equity in

salaries, and number two, to incorporate women in all wage levels, taking them out of the

poorest sectors. In the following table one can see that in the rural sphere, 55.8% of active

female population receives less than two times the minimum wage. In the city the situation

is slightly better since 45.78% is between more than 1 and up to 3 times the minimum

wage. Although salary disparities among men and women have decreased between the

year 2000 (average increase for parity 14.4%) and 2008 (average increase for parity

9.5%), yet we cannot talk about equity based on the perceived remunerations.

Rural Urban
Income level
Women Men Women Men

Total 20,771,500
2,406,865 6,069,114 13,659,177
Up to the minimum wage 31.66 20.05 14.89 6.27
More than 1 to 2 X min. wages 24.14 22.69 24.74 16.98
More than 2 to 3 X min. wages 11.10 16.45 21.04 24.77
More than 3 to 5 X min. wages 5.92 11.04 15.16 24.48
More than 5X min. wages 2.23 3.25 10.03 16.92
Has no income 22.72 22.39 8.15 3.44
Unspecified 2.23 4.14 5.98 7.15
Table 7. Economically Active Population by locality, gender and income level, Mexico.
Source: Elaborated by the Consejo Estatal de Poblacion based on INEGI and STPS, National
Occupation and Employment Survey 2007.

According to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (Encuesta Nacional de

Ocupacion y Empleo, ENOE), for 2008, the female economic participation rate was 42%.

But this information must be taken with caution since a deeper analysis speaks for the

deprivation in this job level for women. Along with wage insecurities is the issue of the time

dedicated to work that is officially recorded. In this sense, the traditional definition of roles

makes it difficult to incorporate women into labor market being that from the number of

women that work, 35% do it part-time (less than 35 hours a week), while in the male sector

only 17% do it in this way. Of course, in these statistics, the hours that women spent on

average doing domestic work, taking care of children and older adults (21.2 hrs.) are not
19
counted. Women do not receive any economic compensation or benefits that would be

owed to them if this work were considered from an economic point of view. On the other

hand, men spend (7.5 hours) just a third part of women’s time on these activities but they

neither receive any payment (INEGI, 2010).

One of the options against the loss of formal employment is self-employment. Graphic 6

show the lower percentage of workers on their own, that by 2004 was of 33.99% in women

and 66.01% in men. According to INMUJERES report (2004), from the economic point of

view efforts have focused on promoting women incorporation into business activities, this

is self-employment. To achieve it, the access to funding for entrepreneur women with

viable projects has been boosted. Among the relevant programs in this sense are

PROFEMOR, that provides economic resources to women for their companies;

PROMUSA, which gives micro-credits to women for the establishment of farms and this

way helping female head of households; FOMUR, that increased the amount of given

support from 54 million pesos (mdp) in 2003, to 169.6 mdp in 2008, distributed through 22

institutions of micro-financing; and POPMI, operated by the National Commission for

Indigenous People Development (CDI) that in 2008 spent 180 mdp to support 2,340

projects in benefit of 19,528 indigenous women with incipient organization level, high

degree of marginalization and scarce economic and commercial experience to strengthen

their organizational processes for the development of productive projects.

Some of the mentioned programs in previous paragraphs are directly oriented to the most

marginalized population, like the rural and indigenous. Especially in the rural sector, the

greatest effort has been made through micro-credits. According to official data of the

Micro-financing Found for Rural Women (FOMMUR, 2010) about the number of micro-

credits given in 2008, the percentage of micro-credits given is higher for women (70.40%).

20
This numbers also show the high responsibility and commitment of beneficiaries to its

refund, with a 99.7% rate in 2008.

Total of Total of Percentage Recovery

Released Women (1) Women/total Percentage
credits (1)
2001 100.6 67.8 67.40 94.4
2002 112 87.8 78.39 98.3
2003 151.2 108.8 71.96 98.3
2004 201.9 147.2 72.91 99.1
2005 245.4 163.6 66.67 97.1
2006 205.2 156.9 76.46 98.2
2007 178.3 133.3 74.76 100.4
2008 158.8 111.8 70.40 99.7
(1) Data in thousands
Table 8. Credit results FOMMUR 2009.
Source: Micro-financing Found for Rural Women (2009).

Continuing with the self-employment matter, a recent study about the situation of business

women in Mexico showed that 75.7% has not received any type of credit and the ones that

have received one are only 24.3%, most of them from the Economy Department

(INMUJERES, 2008). The following table indicates the sources those financing, stressing

the short range of the FONAES program with only 18.4% of the total received financing.

Institution Frequency Percentage

Ministry of Economy 45 51.7
FONAES 16 18.4
Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare 8 9.2
Nacional Financial Bank (NAFINSA) 6 6.9
Other 12 13.8
Total 87 100.0
Table 9. Grantor Institutions of funding for micro-entrepreneurships (2008).
Source: INMUJERES, General Direction of Promotion and Link Sustainable Development Direction.

Despite efforts and as sample of the persisting gap in gender equity, the Diagnosis on the

Situation of Entrepreneurs (INMUJERES, 2008:1) points out that among the most

important difficulties that female entrepreneurs face are: the lack of accompanying when a

credit is given; the paucity of information, especially in remote localities from the capitals of

federative entities; the difficulty to accomplish the requirements that the available credits in

the market demand; the distrust about governmental efficiency to facilitate credit access;

and limitations from the condition and position of entrepreneurs. Another important fact

21
that this research provides is the high education level between interviewed women, since

almost the half, 47.8% have a degree and 23.7% also have a postgraduate. In this sense,

the PYME Mexico Observatory (Secretaria de Economia, 2003) found out that the

conclusion percentages of studies are similar between men and women that are owners of

a business. Analyzing data from other perspective, it can be said that these women that

are a successful example of self-employment, have as a characteristic a high training,

above of the common averages of population. Education seems to be then an important

variable to overcome gender inequity. For this reason the next section will try to

summarize some relevant educative indicators.

As a general panorama it is worth to note that: women experience a major unemployment

level, and for that they are less active in formal employment as in self-employment.

Perceived wages are lower than men’s and job precariousness (full-time jobs) too. Overall,

the situation has improved in the analyzed period, but there still are challenges in

economic inequity of gender.

Women and Education

In the case of entrepreneur women, the situation on professional equity between men and

women has a relevant relation with education levels. But it would be worth asking: what is

the general situation of female population in Mexico in view of the legislative and public

efforts that have been made on educative equality?

In general, reported data by the Ministry of Public Education (Secretaria de Educacion

Publica, SEP) for the analyzed period (2000 to 2006)8 indicate similar percentages

between men and women in all educational levels (see table 10).

22
 Women Men Total
Preschool 11.9 11.7 11.8
Primary school 50.7 51.6 51.2
Middle school 18.9 18.9 18.9
Technical prof. 1.3 1.2 1.2
Bachelors 9.8 9.2 9.5
Teacher’s Degree 0.9 0.4 0.6
University and technology degree 6.1 6.5 6.3
Postgraduate course 0.4 0.5 0.5
Table 10. Student Population Percentages by educational level 2001 (%).

Source: SEP, Basic Statistic of the National Educational System. Begining of courses, 2001-2002.

In a more detailed study, this same report of the Ministry of Public Education report lower

levels of educational desertion in women and also higher terminal efficiency in basic

levels. Particularly for the scholar period 2005-2006 the next table shows that desertion in

women in primary and middle education is lower than in men.

Scholar Primary Education Middle Education

Cycle: Total Men Women Total Men Women
2005- 1.3 1.5 1.1 7.7 9.6 5.9
2006
Table 11. Desertion in primary and middle school index by sex, Mexico (1996-2006).
9
Source: SEP, 2007 .

Nevertheless, illiteracy reported levels are higher in global terms in women of all age

ranges, although significantly higher in the more age intervals: 45-50 and 60 and more.

23
 Illiteracy
40
Age 2000 2005
35
Group Men Women Men Women
30
Total 7.4 11.3 6.8 9.8 Total
25
15-24 3.2 3.5 2.4 2.4 15-24
25-44 4.8 7.4 4.2 5.7 20
15 25-44
45-59 11.3 19.5 9 14.8
60 and 10 45-59
more 23.9 35.5 23.1 33.1 5 60 and more
0
2000 Men 2000 2005 Men Women
Women 2005

Table 12 and Graphic 7. Illiteracy percentage in men and women.

Source: INMUJERES, calculations based in INEGI, Population and Housing Census (1999-2000),
and INEGI, II Population and Housing Counting. 2005

To complete the analysis, a review the indicators by region, urban and rural, shows the

inequality situation that rural regions face. In these zones, illiteracy levels and lack of

schooling came to be two and three times higher than urban. In the next table Jalisco’s

result are specifically used to illustrate such point. Specifically, men and women population

percentages are shown by zone: urban versus rural.

Indicator Rural Urban

Women Men Women Men
Education
Percentage of illiterate population from 15
years old and older 12.30 12.90 4.80 4.00
Population from 6 to 14 years old that does
not attend school 9.40 9.40 5.00 5.70
Table 13. Education in Jalisco.
Source: Prepared by the Statal Population Council based in INEGI’s II Population and Housing
Counting. 2005.

Education has been a priority since first reunions about gender equity. From this point of

view it has been understood as an essential goal to guarantee incorporation to labor

market opportunities and participation as full rights citizens. In this sense, the data that has

been presented in this section reflects important progress in terms of equality education

24
among men and women. However, some challenges, mostly related with illiteracy rates

between some women groups are pointed out, especially in those who live in rural areas.

Power exercise and Citizenship

It was until 1953 that in Mexico women obtained the right to vote. This event is emblematic

in women struggle for their rights, because the right to vote constitutes a political right that

at the same time is associated with citizenship. There is formal citizenship, the one that is

established in laws, substantive citizenship and that is exercised, which means that it is

located in effective capabilities to exercise it (Garcia Quezada et al 2000). In gender equity

terms, formal citizenship has narrowed to its minimum expression in the last years, being

substantive citizenship where serious differences persist. In this sense, the exercise of

political rights and women participation in public administration reflect the degree of

progress.

Female participation in politics and public administration in Mexico can be illustrated with

the following information: 3 State Agencies (Foreign Relations, Tourism and Energy) out of

a total of 19 agencies; in 2009, 40% of middle and superior management positions in

public federal administration and 57% of operational positions; 2 ministers of the Supreme

Court of Justice out of 11; 1 magistrate at the Electoral Court of the Federal Judiciary, who

also chairs it (INMUJERES, 2009). In Legislative Power, women participate with: 133

deputies, out of a total of 500 deputations (Camara de Diputados 2010), and 27 senators

out of 128 (Camara de Senadores 2010). Respecting governorships, only two women

head an entity government (Yucatan and Zacatecas).

The immediate consequence of the limited participation is invisibility of feminine voice,

even for definition of programs and supports that are more appropriated for women. And in

25
the statal breakdown Jalisco is precisely one of the states that present the lowest equity

levels (10%) in the country, just after Nayarit (10.3%)10.

Government position Total of government Amount of women in Percentage of female

employees in functions representation
position
Deputies 39 8 3.12
Ministries 19 2 0.38
Magistrates 33 2 0.66
Mayors 125 8 10.00
State Governors 1 0 0.00
Totals 217 20 14.16
Table 14. Percentage of women in public positions, Jalisco, 2010.
Source: equity of gender in public positions indicator, Jalisco Government 2010.

Political Participation as Relation

Participation as of
participation government
government women’s
(parliamentary employees and
employees estimated
seats) directors
% incomes
% %
respecting
Level Value Women Men Women Men Women Men men’s
Jalisco 0.50 14.29 85.71 23.14 76.86 39.18 60.82 0.45
National 0.58 23.44 76.56 25.24 74.76 39.80 60.20 0.43
Table 15. Men and women citizenship participation, National and Jalisco.
Source: Human Development Index and Status of Women in Jalisco, State Population Board

(2009).

With the objective of increasing political participation of women, between 2005 and 2007,

INMUJERES implemented the boost to political leadership program in the local area and in

2008 designed the Strategic Platform. However, if the current feminine representation in

power exercise is considered, it can be deduced that the results of the established

incentives by the programs have not being achieved yet. It is not surprising that the United

Nations Development Programme Report (2004) situates Jalisco in the 27th place

respecting the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) of the 32 political entities in the

country. This index reflects women participation in public life, so one of the government

main goals is, or should be, encouraging women involvement in political processes, from

which derives governmental decisions that concern them. Women lag in the exercise of

26
power is illustrated with the Gender Equity Index in High Level Public Positions, data of

table 14 show the prevailing lag in the country.

Conclusions

Since 1975, date when Mexico hosted the International Conference on Women, it has

maintained an active participation in the international forums and institutions that have

established the guide lines for the improvement of women’s living conditions. The Mexican

government has made significant efforts to improve the conditions of Mexican women. In

general, its public policies have been coherent with the action objectives established in the

Beijing Conference, especially since the year 2000. An example of this is the creation of

INMUJERES in 2001, which despite its limitations and mistakes has been with no doubt a

motor on the way to equity.

That way, the one of women struggle for equality has been slow and results, although

positives in general, have not always been the best. This article provides evidence that

suggests that this can owe to the fact that the majority of public policies have been

orientated to mitigate economic poverty, leaving aside the obstacles that come with the

context in which women get resources, both economic and other types. For example, two

out of the four strategic objectives that are established in the Platform for Action of Beijing,

are related with the access to economic resources and to credit mechanisms. Besides,

usually in the definition of poverty there are mentioned the lack of economic resources as

a key factor. In response to this, programs and actions direct their effort to create

conditions for women development, access to economic resources and access to saving

and credit institutions.

The analysis made in this work allows asserting that progress has been important but that

many challenges are still ahead before talking of gender equality in economic terms. For

27
mentioning some that have been published in this paper we find that unemployment,

precarious work and wage inequality still have a woman face, And the most obvious

solutions, self-employment and entrepreneurships are not a real way out since the cases

of entrepreneur women and the percentages of self-employed workers are yet scarce.

Although the data related with education show that there are more prepared women in all

educational levels, the business culture is still completely alien for them. The clearest

explanation may be found in patriarchal models that do not allow these women to imagine

themselves as their own bosses in the working level, because in the familiar level they are

responsible for an important part of the country’s homes, which also are more

economically successful that their masculine counterpart.

By the above it can be concluded that it is required a more integral strategy to mitigate

feminization of poverty, .i.e. poverty understood in a wider way that not only includes more

elements, but in a deeper way. Attending in a particular and focalized manner those

regions and areas inside the country that experience not only a higher poverty level, but

greater obstacles to get out of it, like Jalisco.

1
The third area refers to adequate health services.
2
These twelve areas are: women and poverty; education and women trainging; women and health; violence
against women; women and armed conflict; women and economy; women and decision making power;
institutional mechanisms for women progress; women‟s human rights; women and media; women and
environment; girls.
3
CONEVAL (2010) defines moderate multidimensional poverty: when a person has not guaranteed the
exercise of at least of his or her rights for social development and if it incomes are not enough to get goods
and services required to satisfy her basic needs. Meanwhile, extreme multidimensional poverty is considerate
as: the populations that have such a low income that even if they dedicate it completely to food acquisition,
they could not satisfy the necessary nutrients to have a healthy life; besides, they present at least three out of
the six social shortages.
4
Chant (1997, 2007), Moghadam (1997), Cagatay (1998); Baden (1999); Davids and van Driel (2001, 2005);
Wennerholm (2002); Medeiros and Costa (2006); in Chant (2008: 167).
5
These objectives are: 1) to institutionalize a transversal politic with gender perspective in Public Federal
Administration, and build the mechanisms to contribute to its adoption in Union Powers, in governmental
orders and in the private sector; 2)to guarantee legal equality, women‟s human rights and no discrimination in
the rule of law framework; 3) to guarantee justice, security and civil protection access for women; 4) to

28
guarantee women the access to a free of violence life; 5) to strengthen women capacities to expand their
opportunities and reduce gender inequality; 6) to maximize women agency in favor of better opportunities for
their welfare and development; 7) to boost women empowerment, their participation and representation in
decision making spaces in the State and to consolidate democratic culture.
6
Food poverty: inability to obtain a basic food basket, even if one uses all the available income at home to
buy only goods from such basket.
Capabilities poverty: insufficiency in the available income to acquire the value of the food basket and to carry
out necessary expenses in health and education, even spending the total income at home just for these
purposes.
Patrimony poverty: insufficiency in the available income to acquire the food basket, as long as to realize
necessary expenses on health, clothing, housing, transport and education, even if the totality of the home
income were exclusively used to the acquisition of these goods and services (CONEVAL, 2007).
7
“Given that Human Development Index (HDI) does not consider inequalities among men and women, it was
necessary for the UNDP to create the Gender-related Development Index (GDI), which reduces development
levels to the extent that differences in the indicators between men and women increase. If achievement
differences between men and women are taking into account in indicators that form the HDI, losses in human
development occur and produce changes in the relative position of countries, regions, federal entities and
municipalities respecting this topic. Such loss in human development due to gender inequalities is defined as
percentage difference between HDI and the GDI in the corresponding year” (PNUD, 2010).
8
Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP). General Direction on Planning, Programming and Budget. SEP-
DGPP. Planning and Evaluation on Educative Policies Unit, 2007.
9
SEP. General Direction on Planning, Programming and Budget. SEP-DGPP. Planning and Evaluation on
Educative Policies Unit, 2007. Available at: http://www.inegi.gob.mx/
10
Reported calculations by INMUJERES from INAFED (2008)

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