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 Business News | May 2006 
Study: Workplace Equality Improving
 Eduardo Jardón - El Universal
| | The percentage of women in Mexico´s labor pool has increased in recent years, and the income gap between women and men has lessened. |
Government statistics show that most women in the workforce are more educated than their male counterparts.
The percentage of women in Mexico´s labor pool has increased in recent years, and the income gap between women and men has lessened, according to a recent government study.
Statistics from the National Institute of Statistics, Geography and Information (INEGI) show that in 2005 women workers earned on average 7.4 percent less than male counterparts with the same position and the hours.
This is the income disparity´s smallest gap since the statistic started being tracked. In 1995, the difference was 16.1 percent, in 2000 it stood at 14.4 percent and in 2004 it was 12.6 percent.
Carmen García Noemí, head of the Mexican Association of Women Business Owners (AMMJE), said she was pleased by the findings, noting that women have had to work "doubly hard" to receive the same wages and benefits as men.
"Women have had to demonstrate their capacity and talent with double the effort," she said.
She added that the statistics reflect the growing number of women that have been going to college and earning degrees in recent years.
"Today, women are better educated," she said.
INEGI´s numbers show not only better education, but that in many cases women are more educated than most men: the average man has studied 8.5 years, while the average woman has been in school for 9.2 years.
This gap is reduced in the nation´s largest cities, but women are still ahead, with an average of 10.3 years of studies for women and 10.1 for men.
However, Dora Ordóñez, director of gender equality programs at the National Women´s Institute (Inmujeres), said that salary differences will persist as long as machismo exists.
She added that the gains women have made are generally on the lower end of the pay scale, with many in managerial and other high-paying posts left out.
"We should change the laws to allow more opportunities for women," she said. "Their rights and needs, which are distinct from those of men, should be considered." |
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