Topic:
Country: Mexico
Delegate Name: Komal Patel
United Nations Women
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Mexico
Komal Patel
Forest Hills Eastern
Empowering women increases economic diversification, boosts productivity and income equality, and ultimately allows an economy to flourish. Although there are higher numbers of women in the workforce in the modern day, they still continue to face challenges such as low salaries and gender inequality everyday. The UN has made significant progress in advancing gender equality over the decades, including landmark agreements such as the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). UN Women was created to address gender inequality issues, and works to empower women in the economy through “achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.” These causes require immediate action from UN Women in order to advance women’s economic empowerment in the modern world.
Mexico has made severe progress in the achievement of women’s economic empowerment in the country through strengthening national laws to increase gender equality and promoting an end to discrimination and violence against women and girls. In 2020, “less than half of Mexican women of working age participated in the labour market. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, this is the second lowest rate of all OECD countries, and much lower than the rate for Mexican men active in the labour market, which is 82%.” In order to empower women in the economy and promote activism against gender-based violence, Mexico launched the international “Orange the World: Raise Money to End Violence against Women and Girls” campaign with the goal of “gaining global attention and action to end the pandemic of violence against women” (unwomen.org). Mexico has taken significant steps to promote equality and close gender gaps including the introduction of gender quotas in legislature in 2002, 2008, and 2014.
Although Mexico has made severe progress in women’s economic empowerment, there are many actions left to be taken such as the improvement of the availability and quality of childcare services to reduce the unpaid work burden, especially among mothers. Mexico also urges the media to also make a greater effort to eradicate violence against women in textbooks, teachings, and progrmammes. Through these implementations, women will be able to thrive in the economy with a decreased gender gap and more opportunities for women in the workplace. Focusing on these aspects of women’s economic empowerment will allow Mexico to world-wide advance progress toward gender equality and ensure a prosperous and diverse economy.
