These figures reveal that gender gaps prevail in population income and enlarged as women are older, children or the more hours they spend on care, specialists explain.
That is why they need to design an inclusive labor policy and to specify a national care system that contributes to the distribution of this work and allows women to enter the labor market or perceive decent wages.
“The implementation of a national care system cannot be postponed, it must be a budget priority in the Expenditure Budget project of the 2026 Federation,” says the Mexico organization, how are we going? In an analysis of INEGI statistics.
Samantha Contreras, data analyst in that organization, explains that in 2024 the lowest poverty figures in Mexico were recorded. However, by disaggregating by gender, it is observed that there are more women in this situation than men. Of these, 30.1% lived in poverty and 5.5% in extreme poverty compared to 28.9% and 5.2%, respectively, in the case of men.
Among those who dedicate less than four hours to care work and are in poverty, 26.4% are men and 27.1% are women. So far, he points out, the differences do not seem so great. But As you dedicate more time to home tasks, inequality increases.
“When you already compare this for people who dedicate four hours and more to the care and attention of households, then men remain more or less to the same percentage of poverty, they are in 25.3, while in women they shoot at 36.2,” he explains. “That is, the gender gap is a cannon,” he says.
The impact on income
About 90% of the unpaid care work falls to women and that impoverishes them because they are often excluded from the labor market, which does not offer formal jobs with flexible times.
They are also out of the works because many do not have specialized spaces that take care of those who require it, such as nurseries, day houses, nurses or gerontological centers. The State also does not guarantee these services to the entire population.
“You have to dedicate, in the expenses of the Federation, definitely, contribute a little more to care systems. That is, they have to provide services that help this population of women who are in poverty, and who do not have any federal system to support all the care they do without remuneration,” insists the expert.
Without the opportunity or time to devote themselves to paid jobs, women receive less income. But, even when they are employed, they earn less money. Between 20 and 29 years, the gap is like this: for every 100 pesos that a man wins, women earn 74 pesos, it estimates Contreras. In the group of 50 to 59 years and 60 or more years, women earn only 55 pesos of the 100 that men win.
The gap is extended at an older age, the greatest number of children already less educational level, explains the expert. “A woman without children earns monthly 8,600 pesos average and a woman with four children or more, 5,700 pesos. And men without children earn 10,600 pesos and with four children or more, 12,500 pesos. There she shows like among more children, the woman is earning less; among more children, apparently, men are winning more,” he illustrates.
