Nowadays, it is becoming more and more normal to talk about the topic of “gender equity”, however, in the labor field, although progress towards greater gender equity has been slow, it is gaining strength day by day, due to the fact that social movements and activists have put this topic at the center of the discussion in legislative issues and the political agenda.
Equal employment opportunities for men and women are fundamental for the social and economic growth of a country. However, the reality is that in Mexico there is still a gap not only in salaries but also in the number of women hired in managerial or specialized positions, even though there has been significant growth in the female labor force, there are still difficulties for them to access a well-paid job.
In Mexico, although the issue has been appearing and gaining more and more strength in the political agenda, it still faces the challenge of effective implementation of the laws that seek to guarantee gender equality, which has been created and modified to achieve this goal, this because the right direction has not been taken when promoting the issue, especially in the business environment, since a reality (and achievement) applaudable for the Mexican State, is that little by little, it has been achieved that women occupy more and more critical public positions.
Despite the above, it is very clear that there are also many opportunities to advance gender equity in the business world, since fortunately many women have chosen to create their own opportunities by building their own companies and enterprises, which opens labor opportunities for women, in benefit of which it is very likely that labor policy, in general, will change, since as the female labor force grows, labor needs will change generating the need to implement policies and programs for the benefit of the entire workforce in general.
One of these needs is to guarantee a workplace free of Harassment and Harassment mainly for women workers because they are the main ones affected, so a good action to maintain safe spaces could be to implement a Protocol for the Prevention and Attention of Harassment and Harassment Cases, or against any conduct that violates the integrity of women and men in the workplace. Such protocol has been promoted by the International Labor Organization since 2019 through Convention 190, which was ratified by the Mexican State in March 2022, such a convention would become the first international standard that speaks about spaces free of workplace harassment.
In VGA, we believe that internal company policies and protocols are an important part to achieve the objectives set, with them, we try to generate channels of communication, investigation, and support for those affected, as well as the re-education of staff, in general, to raise awareness and prevent harassment cases from happening in their companies.
In conclusion, gender equity in Mexico is an issue that requires the collaboration of the public and private sectors and of society in general, since, although there are still important challenges to be faced, there are also great opportunities to achieve the objective of equity that is sought, always bearing in mind that the benefits that can be obtained will be for the entire labor sector.
