In Mexico, nor a step back in women and policies: Icela Rodríguez
Enrique Méndez
La Jornada newspaper
Tuesday, August 12, 2025, p. 5
In Mexico, “there will be no reversal” in the advancement of rights, gender parity in public positions and social policy in favor of women, said Rosa Icela Rodríguez, head of the Ministry of the Interior, during the parliamentary forum prior to the 16 Regional Conference on Women in AL and the Caribbean, which has as its axis the care system and opens today from the National Palace.
“While in other latitudes deprives war and there is a setback to respect for human rights, in Mexico we build peace,” he said from the tribune of the Chamber of Deputies, where the forum was developed.
After a discussion day, the conclusions of the analysis tables were presented. Deputy Sandra de León Torres, president of the Women’s Block of the Central American Parliament, stated that one of the recommendations is to recognize the work of unpaid care, with tax incentives, such as Deduction of the ISR, or provisional credits.
“Economic inequality weighs more on women’s shoulders; in the region 70 cents earn for every dollar that men perceive, and dedicate three times more time to the work of unpaid care. This overload is aggravated in Afro -descendant, indigenous women and heads of household, where the incidence of poverty is until double that in homes with male leadership,” he said.
Before, Raquel Serur Smeke, Undersecretary for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, raised the legislators of the participating countries to approve reforms towards a care system, changes that “are not a favor or a gesture of goodwill, but a historical debt with millions of women and Mexican families.”
He stressed that “recognizing, redistributing and remunerating care is discriminated, like women and indigenous and Afro descendants. ”
Also, Sima Bahous, Deputy General Secretary of UN Women, raised from the rostrum that the forum represents a path for a care society, a global imperative that the region has defended with purpose and clarity.
“Women who carry the disproportionate charge of unpaid care deserve policies that recognize, redistribute and compensate for care as a public good. It is not a luxury, it is a political imperative. Democracy is fragile when the civic space is restricted.”
The care crisis in the region will be exacerbated and that disproportionately affects women, but is accentuated in the poorest, living in rural areas, and young people also warned Ana Güezmes García, director of the CEPAL Gender Affairs Division.
Victoria Donda, president of the Citizenship and Human Rights Commission of the Mercosur Parliament, mentioned that during the discussion legal reforms were raised to create and strengthen comprehensive care systems and achieve an economy in the field, as well as endorse maternity, paternity and parental licenses.
