- The wage gap between women and men worldwide is about 20%. In Mexico, the gap is 15.6%.
- The government, workers' organizations, employers' organizations, companies, civil society, academia and the general public must work together to achieve gender equality in labor-related matters more quickly.
A forum on equal pay for women and men was held today at the Foreign Ministry. It was organized together with the Senate and the International Labor Organization (ILO).
The event was inaugurated by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard, accompanied by Finance Secretary Arturo Herrera; Gerardina González, director of the ILO Office for Mexico and Cuba; Nadine Flora Gasman Zylbermann, president of the National Women's Institute; Laura Angélica Rojas Hernández, president of the Chamber of Deputies; Senator Martha Lucía Mícher Camarena; Senator Patricia Mercado Castro; Federal Deputy Wendy Briceño Zuloaga; and the Undersecretary of Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Martha Delgado.
In his welcoming remarks, the foreign secretary acknowledged and applauded the 'gender bonus,' which means an increase in economic production per capita as parity is reached between women and men in the labor market, and which will help transform society and achieve greater equality between genders. He also said that the Government of Mexico is working on the international agenda to give a feminist perspective to foreign policy from the point of view of a developing country.
The goal of the forum was to learn about and analyze the latest ILO report, “Global Wage Report 2018/19: What lies behind gender pay gaps,” which gives a detailed assessment of pay inequality caused by gender, in order to better understand the wage gap as one of the greatest social injustices that persist in the workplace.
The report calculates gender pay disparities in an innovative and more precise way, using data from 70 countries and about 80 percent of the world's wage earners. The report notes that, worldwide, women continue to be paid about 20 percent less than men. In Mexico, the gap is 15.6%.
The forum stressed that the problem of the wage gap was a multifactorial one that needs a thorough analysis that goes beyond simple measures of wage differences and considers the cultural, social and economic context.
The forum allowed for reflection and an exchange of ideas on how to jointly advance the equal inclusion of women in terms of paid work.
The ILO is promoting globally the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), which brings together multiple stakeholders: government agencies, employers' and workers' organizations, the UN and international civil society and academics to achieve equal pay for work of equal value.
After the forum, a workshop was given on December 5-6 in the Senate on key concepts and tools on equal pay for women and men by María Arteta, a Gender and Non-Discrimination Specialist, and Rosalía Vázquez-Álvarez, ILO Salary Specialist, to explain international experiences and the progress that has been made in the legislation of countries that have taken steps towards equal pay.
