Everything has remained in words and narratives, but the care system is very necessary. Women are at a disadvantage, we participate less in the workplace and this is closely associated with the role of mothers and caregivers”.
Mariana Campos, coordinator of the public spending and accountability program of México Evalúa.
The implementation of a National Care System, which would help more women join the ranks of formal employment, is one of the great pending issues that the government has with women.
Previously, with Arturo Herrera still at the head of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), the need for a National Care System was discussed; however, few advances have been observed on the subject.
According to figures from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) in Mexico, at the end of 2021, of the 58.7 million people considered as the Economically Active Population (PEA), 23.2 million are women, that is, they represent 39.5% of the total .
Meanwhile, there are another 28.7 million women who are considered to be within the Non-Economically Active Population, that is, they do not participate in economic activity either as employed or as unemployed for various reasons.
“Everything has remained in words and narratives, but the care system is very necessary. Women are at a disadvantage, we participate less in the labor force and this is closely associated with the role of mothers and caregivers,” said Mariana Campos, coordinator of the Public Expenditure and Accountability Program of México Evalúa.
She explained that generally the reasons why women do not enter the labor market is due to the task of caring for both infants and people with illnesses or the elderly.
The fact that women do not have access to paid and formal work affects other aspects of their social well-being, said Alejandra Macías, general director of the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP).
For example, in addition to having no or very low income, they are left without social benefits to access housing or health services. They are also exposed to having no income when they reach retirement age.
cost to treasury
According to the analysis carried out by the Group for the Treasury Transition, from the last legislature of the Chamber of Deputies, considering the implementation of a care model similar to that of developed countries in Latin America, a National Care System in Mexico would require a investment between 185,000 and 200,000 million pesos per year.
The amount of the investment in a care system would be greater than what the government allocated last year for the fiscal stimulus to the IEPS of gasoline, which was 104,000 million pesos, a figure that could be exceeded this year in a scenario where the price of the Mexican oil mix has exceeded 100 dollars per barrel and the government has come out to implement a complementary fiscal stimulus for gasoline.
Recently, an analysis by Bank of America Securities estimated that this year the government will not obtain income equivalent to 1% of GDP due to the fiscal stimulus to the already existing IEPS tax on gasoline, and another 1% due to the complementary stimulus.
However, the investment would be less than the amount that was granted this year to the Ministry of Welfare, which totaled 296.748 million pesos.
Profits
“Not only is there a problem of entering the labor market, but there is also a problem of access for women in leadership positions (…) When women have children, their career stagnates and then two things can happen: they restart their career in a disadvantaged position compared to men, whose career continued advancing, or it may even be that they no longer return to the labor market, ”explained the former Secretary of the Treasury, Arturo Herrera, last year.
In this sense, the Espinosa Yglesias Study Center (CEEY) stated that a care system would have effects not only on who cares, but also on who is the recipient of care and, in this way, opportunities for child development and well-being are created. , as well as the generation of well-being for other people who require care.