Milenio: The Editors
Translated by Kevin Chao
MEXICO CITY: 25 of every 100 households in Mexico have a female head of household. Single, separated, divorced or widowed, these women must generally seek informal employment, which comprises over 60% of Mexican workers.
As the main or only financial providers in their households, responsible for housework, cleaning, and caring for children and the elderly, among other things, they complete two days’ worth of work every day.
They are social outcasts, viewed with contempt for not conforming to traditional gender stereotypes which place the woman in the home, taking care of her children, her husband and the household, contended Julia del Carmen Chávez Carapia, of the UNAM’s (National Autonomous University of Mexico) National School of Social Work (ENTS) on Mother’s Day.
Chávez, coordinator of ENTS’s Center for Women’s Studies, also stressed that women have begun working at younger ages in recent years.
According to official figures, 63% of households with a female head of household are run by women between ages 30 and 59, 9.5% by women between 12 and 29, and 26.9% by women over 60.
In addition to their day jobs, they must spend an average of 42 hours a week working in the home. Last year in Mexico, 97% of female heads of household did housework, she noted.
Head of the family
In 2000, 18.9% of Mexican households were headed by women, which has since grown to 25%, and the number continues to increase.
This can be explained in part by the country’s increasing divorce rates. No longer having the resources to keep the household solvent, divorcées must seek employment, she explained.
In the formal job market, most fill positions dedicated to providing various services. Even women who have completed professional studies earn lower wages, even though the law stipulates that women earn the same amount as men for the same tasks.
Faced with a shortage of opportunities, they seek informal employment, selling merchandise and food in the streets. To support their families, they operate stands selling tamales, quesadillas, corn on the cob and other products, sometimes even in front of their houses, or they engage in catalog sales of various goods.
Chávez pointed out that workers in all of these households spend all of their earnings to support their families and only in extreme cases do they spend any of the money on themselves.
Day of reflection
Chávez finds that the celebration of Mother's Day reinforces a traditional stereotype that limits women, many of whom identify only as mothers, spouses, and housewives.
“While Mother’s Day recognizes this traditional role of women, it is a Hallmark holiday. In order to celebrate, you have to buy.”
This day is a chance to reflect on the living conditions of those confined to being housewives and subjected to the decisions of their husbands or partners, she concluded. Spanish original