No, you can’t always. And precisely we must fight against the stigma that we can do everything. A few days ago I received a message that established the problem of expectations in our actions: taking care of children as if we were not working, and working as if we did not have children. The family response to this was to cheer our strength and say that it could be done.
In Mexico, the female sex represents 52% of the population and only 44% of the economically active population. 30% of women of legal age studied up to the upper secondary level, which determines the type of work they can aspire to. In addition, women who work do so mostly in the informal sector. In addition to this, according to Coneval estimates, we earn 20% less than our male peers. What type of job can we have if we spend an average of 50.4 hours a week on domestic and care work?
40 hours of paid work and 50.4 of work in domestic and care tasks represent almost 4 continuous days. Adding hours of food, transfers and rest (at least sleep what is necessary) there is no time left for anything. Only by adding 8 hours of daily sleep we will have already occupied 6.1 days of the week!
Tiredness is cumulative and mental health costs are not expected by not having time for oneself. According to the World Health Organization, depression is twice as common in women as in men. Prior to the pandemic, the academic Ericka Villavicencio from UNAM estimated that 85% of companies in Mexico did not cover the conditions to guarantee that her collaborators had a balance between their professional and work life. What to expect in these two pandemic years?
Public policies are essential that not only promote a reduction in the burden on women, but also incorporate everyone equally in care work, in family responsibilities. It is not removing daycare centers and full-time schools, but it is also increasing paternity leave for men and for them to enjoy the same daycare rights in their public and private spaces.
The voice of March is not only because of physical and visible violence. The purple flares are in search of a better social contract with opportunities for all. That being born a woman or being a woman does not condition the probability of having a full life. Stop carrying that social expectation of being powerful, strong, indestructible, super woman, martyr, saint and all powerful. Because no, you can’t always.
* The author is Academic Associate Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Government, Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Twitter: @GriAyllon
