Factores que influyen en la participacion economica de las mujeres en Mexico.

AutorGarduno-Rivera, Rafael

Factors that Influence Women's Economic Participation in Mexico

Introduction

Since the 1950's the social and economic importance of women has been increasingly accepted worldwide (Mehra, 1997). In a global context, studies such as Klasen and Lamanna (2009) show a general increase in the economic participation rates of women over the analyzed period. In Mexico the first claims on gender equality occurred in the 1970's, where several feminist groups were created to support the economic, educative and social aspects of the equality movement (Bartra, Fernandez poncela and Lau, 2002). The women's economic participation (WEP) in the country has increased from 32.9 per cent in 1987 to 41 per cent in the last quarter of 2010. This reflects the economic situation of Mexican households and some degree of women's empowerment (INEGI, 2010). In this study I examine the demographic and economic factors affecting the wep in Mexico, and its evolution over a twenty year period (from 1990 to 2010). I am specifically concerned with this topic from an economic growth and, consequently, poverty alleviation perspective (Aguirre et al., 2012; World Bank, 2012).

Female participation in the labor market has been highly studied because of the economic and social implications. An important focus from recent literature has been the gap between male and female schooling levels, and its repercussion on women's ability to find jobs. Barro (1996), using around 100 countries, estimates that the effect of higher education for women on economic growth was practically zero. Meanwhile, more recent studies indicate that the effect of higher education for women leads to higher wep rates. Among the latest studies on this topic, Klasen and Lamanna's (2009) stands out. They found that for a wide temporal range, and including information from over 130 countries, the effect of educative discrimination is determinant on the employment opportunities for women and, indirectly, on growth patterns. This result agrees with those found by Knowles, Lorgelly and Owens (2002) and Aguayo and Lamelas (2011). Aguayo and Lamelas (2011) study Mexico and find that for the 2000-2005 period, education plays a decisive role on WEP, although it will not estimate the female occupational levels.

In classical and modern literature, having children is seen as a factor that facilitates or hinders WEP, depending on the country. Schockaert (2005) demonstrates the divergent effect of children over WEP. Evidence for North-American women's conditions allow them to conciliate their reproductive and professional spheres, while children in Latin-American countries represent an obstacle to getting a (better) job or obtaining a higher wage for women. From this perspective, Crespo Garrido (2012) studies the different public policies taken from a sample of European countries to reconcile women's family and professional lives. Meanwhile, Garcia and de Oliveira (1997) express that motherhood is seen as their main source of identity by an important segment of society, varying between social classes.

Marital status has traditionally been highly related to women's employment rates. In a recent study, Grantham (2012) concludes that even for mid-nineteenth century France, marital status mattered for women entering the labor market, as reflected in the divergent signs associated with the coefficients of married and widowed women. Anderson and Dimon (1998) provide a detailed analysis of the economic behavior of married women, demonstrating that the earnings of the husband or other members whom contribute to familial income are negatively related to the probability of women joining the labor market.

Meanwhile, literature has not been focused on the barriers associated with women's entry into the labor market, but instead on the conditions women have to deal with once they get a job. England et al. (2006) present evidence indicating that the feminization of occupations lowers the wages of these positions; they conclude that the initial composition of the workforce by gender was a determinant of this phenomenon, and that it has prevailed due to the inertial relationship between highly female occupations and low wages. In contrast, Kriesi et al. (2010) report that, even for highly developed countries such as Switzerland, gender plays a fundamental role in job opportunities, and therefore wage levels. Besides the characteristic of lower wages associated with female employments, the lack of social security puts the familial economy at a higher risk. Dominguez-Villalobos and Brown-Grossman (2010) demonstrate that the export-oriented industries have contributed to lower wages in absolute and relative terms with respect to women's wages relative to those of men's.

Another factor that restricts the WEP for Mexican women is the machismo. Although machismo is not reinforced by any law, as in Islamic countries, its effects prevail even after 40 years of feminist demands (Sidani, 2005). Contreras and plaza (2010) argue that for the Chilean case, machismo represents an obstacle for WEP, leading them to occupy the last places on this category among OECD countries. Cerruti and Zenteno (2000) show that, for the Mexican case, the probability of women's joining the labor market decreases if they are living with a partner and he is the household head.

While a significant aspect of the Mexican economy, this paper does not discuss women participation in the informal sector. It neither discusses in depth the gender gaps in employment and wages. Proof of those gender gaps has been carefully researched in other studies (i.e. Duryea et al., 2007).

This paper looks at the different factors that can affect women's participation and explains the disparities of WEP among Mexican regions. The hypothesis is that the regional disparities of women's participation are based on education, presence of maquiladoras, urbanization and other non-observed factors. The question that this study addresses is: What regional factors influence women's participation and cause disparities in their participation across municipalities? Additionally, this paper measures the progress and the current state of WEP during the last decades and the evolution of the differences across regions.

Women are the largest social group in Mexico (51.17% of the population according to the 2010 census), and are a potential source of labor for national economic growth (Aguirre et al., 2012). Thus, a better understanding of the causes that increase WEP will help to identify measures to foster a greater inclusion in the labor market and construct a more dynamic economy.

  1. Women's Situation in Mexico

    The situation of women in Mexico has shown promises of transformation during the last 30 years. This section analyses aspects such as fecundity, economic and work environment, and women's economic participation to observe if they had suffered a transformation too.

    I.1. Fecundity

    Between 1970 and 2010 an important variation in the demographic growth was found. This change refers to the fecundity in women aged 12 and over. INEGI (2010) shows that in 2009 the number of children per woman was 2.39, while in 1970 was 3.1; a reduction of almost one child per women during the last 40 years. The main factors that INEGI identifies as causes of this variation are the level of education and economic conditions. They believe that the higher the level of education the lower the average number of children.

    Despite these fecundity changes, INEGI (2010) noted that by the end of 1990 the lower fecundity level was not reflected in a more equitable percentage of women and men participating in the work place--326 men were working for every 100 women--. This effect was only perceived starting in 2009, when the ratio of economic participation among women and men was 151 men working for every 100 women, a reduction of 115 per cent from the 1990 levels.

    1.2. Recession and Crisis

    Since 1970, Mexico engaged in a process of liberalizing and opening up its economy. This was in response to the downturn and recession that hit Mexico, like many Latin American countries, during the eighties. The deterioration of living standards made it increasingly necessary for the population --especially the ones with low incomes--to look for new and different strategies to sustain their household income levels. Levine (1993) explains that the 1982 crisis led more family members into the work force, which meant school-age boys looking for after-school employment and housewives looking for jobs that could be done at home. Women were obliged to participate in order to contribute to the family budget along with continuing domestic work. Furthermore, the growth of the informal sector was a result of the formal sector's stagnation. The former was characterized by high women's participation. For his part, Campos-Vazquez (2010) analyses the effects of macroeconomic shocks on employment during the last crises, finding that the most vulnerable were young and unskilled populations, but that women's participation seems not to be affected by previous crisis. Using a twenty years database, from 1990 to 2010, this paper analyses the variations of our data on three major crises (1994, 2001 and 2008) and the effect of the crises on it.

    1.3. Type of Work

    With respect to the type of work undertaken by women, INEGI (2009) shows that it was mostly concentrated on health and educational services. Both types of work are tightly correlated with demographic density, indicating that the higher the population the higher the number of women economically active. Among the traditional activities that have characterized WEP are working-at-home, in maquiladoras, and in restaurant, hotel and health services. The work undertaken by women at home or in the factory was low remunerated due to the low skill requirements, and did not significantly...

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