The advances have been enormous, but for women equality is still an elusive dream. The United Nations Organization for Women (UN Women) has warned this Monday in Mexico City that at the current rate of reforms, women will achieve equality with their male peers within 300 years, for which the organization has demanded Governments and the private sector implement measures that make it possible to more rapidly reduce the economic gaps and the violence that is fueled by them. “The time for equality is today. Let’s make equality not just an aspiration but a palpable reality”, said Belén Sanz Luque, UN Women’s representative in Mexico, during the presentation of a report on equity prepared by that organization.
The UN warns that the challenges remain enormous. He has given, for example, that among the 500 large companies in the world, only 52 are led by women. Or that one in three women is the object of violence in the world. And in countries like Mexico, where an average of 10 women a day are murdered, the challenges are like huge hurdles in an obstacle course. The report shows that in this North American country the percentage of women living in poverty increased last year to such an extent that four out of ten are in this situation of deprivation. The indigenous women bear the brunt of these statistics in red, since seven out of ten live in that condition. “Indigenous women present a higher percentage (29.8%) of extreme poverty compared to the national data (8.5%)”, warns the UN.
In addition, they continue to be submerged in the informal economy, doing domestic and care work, without having access to employment benefits such as social security, living wages or benefits. More than 90% of the two million domestic workers do not have these benefits. “Mexico still faces challenges in terms of poverty, the informal economy, femicides and violence against women and girls, problems aggravated in part by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the economic recovery process,” Sanz Luque has alerted.
UN Women presented its report at an event organized on Monday night at the headquarters of the Interactive Museum of Economy (MIDE) in the Mexican capital, an imposing palace of the viceroyalty, built in 1766 and which was initially a convent of the order of the Betlamites. In the courtyard of this venue, representatives of the government, companies and organizations showed their interest in taking actions to improve the conditions of women and that their longed-for equality does not take 300 years to arrive. “Social justice establishes that we cannot achieve equality and decent work if we do not ensure the same opportunities for all women,” said Pedro Américo, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) office for Mexico and Cuba during the event, named as the night for equality and in which personalities such as actress Karla Souza or singer Ximena Sariñana participated.
Despite the challenges women face in their fight for equality, the UN has also shown data for optimism. In Mexico, six out of 10 people who graduate from university are women. Worldwide, almost all parliaments have integrated female legislators into their ranks, a situation unthinkable just a few decades ago. Women already represent 54% of all local representatives in Mexican parliaments. The percentage of women in management positions in public administration has reached 39.62% and nine states in the country are governed by women. The reason for this are parity policies that have been approved in recent years. At present there are numerous women in the first political line and the Supreme Court of Justice is presided over by a woman for the first time.
The message of Monday night, however, was clear: what has been achieved so far is not enough. “It is worth tripling our efforts, because it will take us 300 years to achieve gender equality. And we are going to keep trying!”, reiterated the journalist Marion Reimers, goodwill ambassador for UN Women.
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