By Benjamín Alemán-Castilla* and Karla Cuilty Esquivel**
The annual monitoring of the indicators that make up “Decent Work” in Mexico allows us to identify the progress made, as well as the challenges and areas of opportunity to build a more inclusive, equitable and formal labor market, for the benefit of both companies and workers.
Based on the construction of the 16 indicators established by the International Labor Organization, the Research Center for Women in Senior Management of the IPADE Business School, with the collaboration of Afore SURA, measures the advances and setbacks of female inclusion in Decent Work. These indicators are obtained for the general population, for women and men, with information from the INEGI National Occupation and Employment Survey from 2005 to 2025, which makes comparison by sex possible.
In this context, the sustained growth of the “Payment for work disability” indicator stands out, understood as the proportion between women and men who receive this benefit. While in 2006 the proportion was 0.7 – that is, for every man who received a disability payment, only 0.7 women had access to that right – today the relationship has balanced and access between women and men is practically equal, which indicates the elimination of the gender gap in this area.
Likewise, employment with excessive hours presents a positive result, since for both women and men it continues its decreasing trend, reaching 29.5% for men and 16.9% for women, the lowest values of the years of the study. Even so, there is room to improve unpaid work loads within homes with respect to parenting, housework, and caring for family members. The figures show that while men have 117 free hours, women have 106. Under this approach, collaborating equally in companies and homes would offload excessive working hours on men and allow women to enjoy a greater number of free hours.
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On the other hand, labor informality maintains its decreasing rate, which is a positive result in the labor market, although it is still higher among women by one percentage point than among men. In parallel, employment in the informal sector impacts women (29.5%) relatively more than men (28.3%).
By studying low wages and working poverty, we have an overview of the ability to generate jobs that pay adequately within the Mexican labor market. During the pandemic, a rebound in working poverty was observed that continues to be reversed until this year. When analyzing from 2005 to 2025, a persistence in working poverty is observed, although the recent trend is downward. Unfortunately, low-wage workers increased in 2025, with the global figure being 27%. Women show persistence in accessing jobs with lower salaries than men, with a gap of 0.55; however, men present labor poverty with a higher incidence, with a gap of 1.12. Regarding social security coverage, there are encouraging results with an average annual rate of 0.5, where women access under similar conditions to men, 40.7% and 39.1%, respectively.
In addition to the above, there remains a higher percentage of women who do not study, do not work and are not trained between the ages of 15 and 24 (23.8%) than men (9.4%), which is why it is necessary to maintain the implementation of policies that encourage young women to continue in schools or be included in work spaces, at least part-time.
Encouraging news is that the 2024 result regarding parity in management positions was reversed. The percentage of women in senior and middle management shows a growth of close to two percentage points, that is, women represented 38.2% in these positions in 2025. However, it would be advisable to reinforce efforts to achieve equity in these positions, because stagnation has occurred, and even in 2024 a decline in the figure was observed.
In conclusion, promoting work-life balance strategies, eliminating unconscious biases in talent selection processes, as well as a care system, could increase the number of women in the labor market and consolidate the presence of women in Senior Management.
About the authors:
*Benjamín Alemán-Castilla is a visiting professor at the Women in Senior Management Research Center at IPADE Business School.
**Karla Cuilty Esquivel is a researcher at the Women in Senior Management Research Center at IPADE Business School.
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico.
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