The labour reform achieved an inclusive sense of gender perspective “by getting rid of that protective cloak” of the Executive Power and passing labor justice to the Judiciary, since the latter has more quickly aligned itself with the struggles of women, non-binary people, sexual dissidence and other vulnerable populations, says Alix Trimmer, feminist labor activist.
The new labor justice model, with conciliation centers and labor courts, is already being implemented in 21 states in the country. And as of October 3, they will take office in the remaining 11 entities, including Mexico City.
For Susana Casado, an official of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (STPS), the gender perspective in the reform is in the obligation of the unions to include women in their directives and that the companies have a protocol of attention to violence, harassment and harassment, he said in a forum convened by the British embassy.
There is definitely a breakthrough says, Alix Trimmer. In an interview, he recovers the historical memory of the labor law in the country and details: “This emerged in a warlike context, which was the Mexican Revolution”, and there are few things more patriarchal than war. Its origin is located in a time when society was structurally “more macho”, he explains.
The world of work was primarily identified “with the cisgender man, heterosexual” and without disabilities. “And what did not fit in that little box, was simply outside the protection of the law.” The word cisgender refers to people who identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.
Since the second decade of the last century, when labor law emerged in Mexico and was something new in the country and worldwide, little by little the excluded populations have managed to have some of their rights recognized.
But although the rules can be modified, “what is relevant is to generate a change in consciences and, with it, a social change. That is where our efforts as legal professionals, as activists, and the State as a whole should be focused, considers the lawyer.
Women in labor reform
The Federal Center for Conciliation and Labor Registration (CFCRL) is made up of a good part of women, according to Susana Casado, general director of training and Dissemination for the Reform of the Labor Justice System of the STPS.
The 62% of conciliatory personnel is female and 43% of the places to run notifications, too. In the federal labor courts there is gender parity. At the local level, 56% of the conciliation staff and 47% of the heads of the courts are women.
Gender proportionality in union boards is another measure with a gender perspective and this is how the official explains it: “if a company has 100 workers and 30% are women, consequently, its union board will be made up of that proportion.”
But because the unions determine how the purses are distributed, “they mostly put them on the gender commission or in the organization of secondary activities. It is one of the great challenges, that women be placed in the finance, government commissions, in those where the heart of the union is found”.
And to stop the gender violence at work companies are obliged “to implement a protocol to prevent discrimination, address it and prevent people from being fired due to pregnancy, sexual orientation or gender identity.” As well as to deal with cases of bullying and harassment.
Last April, it was approved the Plan of action to incorporate the gender perspective in the implementation of the labor reformreports.
The box is breaking
The labor law in this country “it is one of the most important social conquests of the Mexican Revolution”. Before, “there was a deeply rooted culture of worker exploitation”, with strip shops and other types of labor relations “completely inhuman, with exhausting hours”, says Alix Trimmer.
This is how it was created article 123 in the Constitution of 1917. “This article has a protectionist approach towards the working class, because it was the one that had a disadvantage against the employers.”
In 1931 the Federal Labor Law (LFT), its creation was influenced by the United States, but not enough to establish the “at will” model, which translates as “at will”, says Alix Tremmer. In other words, people can be fired at any time without repercussions for the company.
“In Mexico we have a completely different notion: the principle job stability. From article 123 it was clear that it must be protected.” That is why the LFT established a series of grounds to terminate the employment relationship.
It was a great advance, but gender equality and the protection of other vulnerable populations, such as sexual dissidenceThey weren’t listed yet. “As far as it has evolved, it hasn’t completely managed to get rid of heteropatriarchy.”
Norms arise as a result of people interpreting reality and understanding the social context they are experiencing, he points out. “In a society that had more marked gender roles and stereotypes based on binarism, women and LGBT people they were left out. We have not come to include sexual dissidence and non-binary people in their language. But here we go.”
One of the last great advances, he celebrates, is the Convention 190 of the ILO on violence and harassment. “Although it seems that the target group is women, because we are the ones who suffer the most from violence in all areas, other groups are included: LGBTQI+, indigenous people, migrants, the population with disabilities, who are at risk of suffering workplace violence.”