The feminization of poverty and the economic impact of public policies in Mexico and Jalisco

Transcription

1 The feminization of poverty and the economic impact of public policies in Mexico and Jalisco Draft paper for discussion at ISA 2011 Annual Convention, Montreal Ruth Elizabeth Prado a and Eva Maria Gonzalez b a Sociopolitical and Juridical Studies Department, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente (ITESO); and b Bussiness School, Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus Guadalajara Abstract This paper evaluates the economic impact of the federal public policies, which have incorporated the gender perspective in their design and implementation at both, national, and Jalisco s level. The paper looks at different indicators to illustrate the situation of women regarding poverty, economy, education, participation and citizenship. Key words Feminization of poverty, public policies, gender equality, gender perspective, economic impact. From March 1 th to 12 th, 2010, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the Beijing + 15 meeting took place. The meeting aimed at reviewing and discussing the situation, challenges and progress made on the implementation of the measures established on the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action, both emblematic international instruments of the struggle against gender inequality, fifteen years before. This meeting represents a good opportunity for evaluating the steps taken by the Mexican government and Jalisco s 1

2 state government regarding the feminization of poverty at both national and state levels. The feminization of poverty is with no doubt the greatest challenge of gender inequity because on one hand, it is an essential requirement for the successful implementation of women s human rights (WHR), and on the other, it impacts directly the exercise of other rights. This article examines the achievements and challenges that the implementation of public policies has had on the fight against women poverty in Mexico and Jalisco. Beyond reviewing the indicators that may provide an account of the situation of poor women in Mexico and Jalisco and the relation between poverty and women, our objective is to evaluate whether public policies have been able to address the feminization of poverty. To that end, it is important to establish that the feminization of poverty should not be understood as the high level of poverty between women as a result of the lack of an income, but as the multidimensional poverty which are caused by focused the adverse conditions resulting from gender inequity. In the first part, a review of Mexico s participation in international forums that have set the path for the struggle against the inequality of gender is made. Here, the commitments made and the lines of action are examined. In the second part, the notion of poverty, both in its material and non-material dimensions is analyzed. In this section, the feminization of poverty and the challenges needed to mitigate it will be tackled. The third section emphasizes the importance of gender equity as a condition to break the cycle that perpetuates the feminization of poverty. The final part reviews the incorporation of the gender perspective on public policy design and implementation in Mexico, examining some the main programs, and some indicators that account for the results and challenges of such policies. 2

3 International initiatives concerning women and poverty The Commission on Status of Women (CSW) was created in 1946 (UN. Res. 11[II]) as a functional Commission of the Economic and Social Council of United Nations with the aim of analyzing issues related to gender equity and the progress of women. Through formulating recommendations and encouraging the study and inclusion of topics related to women, the Commission has become the most influential instance in the design of gender equity policies at the international level. To that purpose, the CSW has organized four international conferences to analyze the situation of women around the world and in each of them the condition of women in poverty and women and development, or the lack of it, has emerged. The First World Conference on Women took place in Mexico (1975) during the international women s year. The topic of the Conference was Equality, Development and Peace. In this conference, participants called states to encourage integration and full participation of women in development. The Conference s Platform of Action established as one of its goals, to guarantee equal access for women and men to resources such as education and job opportunities (UN, 2010). The Conference in Mexico marks the beginning of the transformation of the role of women in development. Women, until then seen only as passive recipients of support and assistance and beneficiaries of the resources produced by development, began to be seen as producers of it, with the same rights to resources and opportunities than men, but still a long way from exercising those rights. One of the most important mechanisms on the way to equality between men and women is the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), approved in 1979, before the following World Conference in Copenhagen. This Convention has been called the women human rights charter and currently it is legally binding for 165 States. 3

4 In Copenhagen in 1980, when evaluating the progress made on achieving the goals set out in the Platform of Action five years before, participants realized that, despite governmental actions to promote and guarantee women s rights, the necessary conditions for women to exercise their rights had not yet been developed. Therefore, the disparity between given rights and the capacity of women to exercise them became the objective of analysis and action of the World Conference. To that purpose, three areas with their particular goals were established to address the problem. Two of those areas, equality of access to education and job opportunities 1 made it clear once again that there were huge setbacks on the inclusion of women to development and the (formal) productive processes linked to the production of wealth. Hence, the Program of Action of Copenhagen encouraged, among others, the adoption of measures that could guarantee women s rights over property and land control (UN, 2010). Five years later, in 1985, in Nairobi, it was clear that the efforts to reduce the gender gap in the past decade had produced marginal achievements. Therefore, what was needed was a new approach, wider and inclusive of all the areas of human interaction. In particular, the 155 participant states were called to adopt the necessary measures at the national level to encourage the participation of women on decision-making, not only those decisions related with women, but decision-making in general. On these issues, in 1995 the World Conference was celebrated in Beijing. This was considered the top Summit for gender equality. In Beijing, there was a redefinition of the approach used for dealing with gender inequity, moving the focus of the analysis from women to the notion of gender. It was then recognized that there exists a dominant structure that rules the lives of men and women, which needed to be reevaluated and restructured to achieve the necessary changes for fully potentiating the role of women on society, institutions and on the development process. 4

5 The Beijing s Platform for action identifies twelve areas of concern 2 that may be obstacles for gender equity; one of them is women and poverty. On the delimitation of this area, the Commission expressed at Beijing its concern not only for the number of women who live in poverty, but also for the obstacles that the prevailing economic structures imposed on them which in turn makes it more difficult for them to satisfy their needs and get opportunities to go out of poverty. Since 1995, when there were one billion poor people in the world, most of them were women, and the situation has not significantly changed. The four strategic objectives to help women in poverty that are established in the Platform for Action are: 1. To review, adopt and maintain macroeconomic policies and developmental strategies that address the needs and efforts of women in poverty; 2. To revise laws and administrative practices to ensure women s equal rights and access to economic resources; 3. To provide women with access to savings and credit mechanisms and institutions; 4. To develop gender-based methodologies and conduct research to address the feminization of poverty. The achievement of these objectives requires an active participation of governments, enterprises and financial institutions in the design and implementation of efficient measures to reduce poverty. Nevertheless, to evaluate the achievements of these objectives it is necessary to carefully examine the notion of poverty in the first place, which will lead to the analysis of its feminization. Poverty: a complex and multidimensional phenomena Even though there is not a unanimously accepted definition of poverty, there is a general agreement about the material aspects of poverty usually linked to the economic and monetary conditions that determine the purchasing power within the market. But a broader notion of poverty incorporates non-material dimensions that make a human being poor. 5

6 According to Perez Orozco (2003:2), a less orthodox notion of poverty would include the lack of diverse resources, including economic, cultural, self-esteem, time availability, space, leisure, freedom and even political rights. In order to address poverty from a multidimensional perspective, in Mexico, the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social, CONEVAL) has developed a methodology 3. CONEVAL estimates that in 2008 there were million people experiencing a multidimensional poverty in Mexico, and 2.54 million of these were in Jalisco. The indicators that CONEVAL takes into account to measure the multidimensional character of poverty are based on the social deprivations illustrated in table 1. Incidence indicators National Jalisco Social deprivation indicators Percentage Million Million Percentage people people Educational backwardness Health services access Social security access Quality and housing Basic housing services access Food access Table 1. Percentage of Multidimensional Poverty Mexico Source: CONEVAL estimations based in the IMC_ENIGH Still, the prevailing poverty vision is the economic one, which, as it has been said, depends on the monetary transactions of the market. This vision has inspired international governments and organizations in the design of programs and action plans. This way, at an international level, material poverty is the one that has been addressed since the end of World War II, and it has also defined the notion of development understood as economic growth (Thomas, 2000: 647). As a result, in the predominant discourse, the lack of development equals poverty and therefore, it is located in Third World countries. But beyond the official discourse, it is certain that material poverty in the world has a woman s 6

7 face. According to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), a disproportionate percentage of poverty in the world corresponds to women. UNIFEM estimates that 70 percent of poor people in the world are women and the implications of this is more significance, not only because they are devoid of basic rights, but because this also perpetuates their isolated role in decision making to change their environment (UNIFEM, 2010). The feminine face of poverty was called in the 70s feminization of poverty, but it was not until the mid 90s that the term was added to the lexicon associated with development (Chant, 2008: 166). Nevertheless, it is important to make clear that feminization of poverty does not simply refer to high levels of poverty among women. These are more a state of being, while feminization is a process (Ibid: 169). This concept refers to certain characteristics that can be appreciated in the next box: Women experience a higher poverty incidence than men. Women experience a more severe and deeper poverty than men. Women tend to suffer a more persistent and long term poverty than men. The burden of poverty in women shows a relative increase compared with men. Women face more challenges to get out of poverty. Feminization of poverty is related with feminization of the household head. Families with feminine head of households are the poorest of the poor. Poor families with feminine head of households transmit poverty to children. Box 1. Characteristics of the feminization of poverty Source: various 4. Wennerholm (2002: 10) says that the thesis of feminization of poverty, attracts more than attention to the large number of poor women, but has had relevant implications for its analysis. It does so by highlighting the impact of macroeconomic politics over women, by rethinking the role of women in development processes and, by promoting the awareness of the existence and vulnerability of women as head of households. Clearly then, any action that pretends to tackle economic poverty, in which millions of women in the world 7

8 live, has to consider its approach and the aspects characterizing feminization of poverty, because only by doing this, can one develop the processes to tackle women poverty. The gender perspective in the building of an equitable society Mexico was not only the venue of the First World Conference on Women (1975); it has also actively participated in other initiatives and international forums on the matter. Mexico signed the CEDAW in 1980 and the next year it was ratified, acquiring the contracts it imparted. The most important one is the inclusion of gender perspective (GP) in all government levels for the design and implementation of public policies, as it is established in the National Development Plan (Presidencia de la República, 2010). With this purpose, the National Institute on Women (Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres, INMUJERES) was founded in 2001, a public and decentralized agency from the public federal administration to whom it was given the responsibility of promoting the improvement of the social condition of women. The inclusion of the GP in the public policies design denotes a clear course change in governmental efforts on fighting against poverty, in which million of women live in Mexico. Whereas that at the end of the 80s and mid 90s the Women Solidarity (Solidaridad Mujeres) and Progress programs were trying to tackle gender inequity with compensatory actions like economic support through community infrastructure building and establishment of dairy farms and sown fields; INMUJERES creation introduces strategies such as opportunity equality, affirmative actions and transversality (Avila and Gonzalez, 2009:6). For the implementation of GP in states and municipalities, the institutions that coordinate it were created inside their respective jurisdictions. In the case of Jalisco, this activity is 8

9 realized through the Jalisco Institute on Women (Instituto Jalisciense de las Mujeres, IJM) that was created in In municipalities, on the other hand, the strategies for the implementation of the GP are carried out throughout CE-women, which legal nature is coordinated by their town councils and varies for each municipality (Avila and Gonzalez, 2009: 8). Currently, one of the most important duties of INMUJERES is to operate the National Program for Equality among Women and Men (Programa Nacional para la Igualdad entre Mujeres y Hombres, PROIGUALDAD). This program gathers governmental endeavors to guarantee women s human rights (WHR) by the establishment of basic action guides that guarantee access to justice and security as well as the strengthening of women s capacity to enhance its economy for more welfare and development opportunities (INMUJERES, 2010). As a result of these initiatives, some laws were enacted, like the Access to a Free Life of Violence General Law, the Equality among Men and Women Law, and the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination Law. Such laws initiated a series of actions and institutional adjustments to reduce gender inequity. INMUJERES holds that in Mexico the conditions and irreversible transformations necessary to construct an authentic equality culture are being created. Nevertheless, it also points out that one of the main difficulties is the establishment of agreements and compromises on gender with agencies in the three governmental levels. Due to that, this is still a very long process that the personnel in public agencies are in constant rotation, which hinders the GP incorporation in the planning and/or action, programs and projects definition (INMUJERES, ). According to INMUJERES, human and financial resources are still insufficient to complete some agencies will and politic compromises. This, at the same time, prevents total harmonization of the national legislation with the international commitments acquired through binding documents (Ibid: 4). 9

10 Poverty Alleviation Public Policies in Mexico and Jalisco Before continuing with the analysis, it is necessary to clarify two key concepts. The first one refers to gender inequity and the second to public policies. Gender is a cultural construction of sexual difference. The notion of gender is dynamic, because it changes with every epoch and social group. As a result of this construction, series of psychological, social, political and cultural characteristics have been assigned to gender. They have shaped the type of power relation between men and women and, in consequence, their opportunities to develop. When one talks about gender equity it has been recognized that there are specific features for men and women, but in spite of them, when interacting and in their environment, there should be no discrimination. Equity appeals to equality and justice but taking into consideration the differences between them. In this sense, public policy design is needed to incorporate the GP, since only by doing this the needs of men and women would be differentially attended to end inequality. Public policies, no matter what area they work in, are understood as the governmental action addressed to take charge of public matter. Through laws, regulations and courses of action among others, governments develop, define and implement strategies to tackle public interest issues. The Mexican government has developed and implemented seven specific public policies to reduce gender inequity in: poverty, reproductive health, comprehensive health for women, gender violence, gender mechanisms, WHR and labor (Avila and Gonzalez, 2009: 6). Those public policies can be evaluated in reference to the strategic objectives that were established in the Platform for Action in Beijing for this purpose. Table 2 enumerates the most relevant public policies aimed at achieving each one of these objectives. As it can be seen, the federal government has developed specific programs to address poverty among 10

11 women in Mexico, and to implement them; the three different governmental levels are involved. Area Macroeconomic policies and developmental strategies Rights equality and access to economic resources Access to credit and saving institutions Research lines and methodologies Table 2. Federal Policies on Gender Equity, Mexico. Source: personal elaboration. Public policies and actions PROIGUALDAD Opportunities To live better Food Support and Rural Supply Program Scholarships to Young Mothers and Pregnant Young Women Program National Higher Education Scholarships Program GP institutionalization General Law for Equality between Women and Men (2006) Women s Access to a Life Free of Violence General Law (2007) PROIGUALDAD Mexican Norm for the Incorporation of Labor Equality Policies and Practices between women and men Women in the Agriculture Sector Program (PROMUSA) Program to Strengthen Rural Business and Organizations (PROFEMUR) Productive Boost for Women Program (IPM) Productive Organization for Indigenous Women Program (POPMI) Micro-entrepreneurs Funding National Program (PRONAFIM) Micro-financing to Rural Women Fund (FOMMUR) National Fund to Support Solidarity Business (FONAES) National Trust Fund for Cooperatives Promotion (FIFONAFE) CONEVAL s Multidimensional Measurement of Poverty Methodology for the Incorporation of the GP in Public Budget Opportunities for Low Income Women in Rural Areas Observance of Housing and Poverty Perceptions from the Gender Approach What Poor People Say Survey As it was pointed out previously, PROIGUALDAD serves as a guiding program for the inclusion of GP in public administration. For such reason this program identifies seven strategic objectives 5 and one of them deals with poverty on women. This way, PROIGUALDAD establishes as its strategic objective number six: to boost economic diligence of women in favor of greater opportunities for their welfare and development. For 11

12 this, programs were implemented to strengthen women capacities and to improve their economic situation, and with this allow their insertion to the developmental process in its traditional definition. It is important to mention that obtaining economic resources can precede from three fields market, state (through public services) and home (through some community works) (Perez Orozco, 2003: 3)- but public policies seem to be directed to the first. To evaluate achievements on the matter in public policies, it is necessary to first examine indicators that account for their impact in the reduction of gender inequity. Second, it is required to review public policies and developed programs made to such purpose as to evaluate their congruency in the two governmental levels. The above will allow us to analyze in which extent these policies successes address the feminization of poverty beyond poverty in women. Analysis of the impact of public policies in gender equity in Jalisco As it has been previously examined, the concept of poverty is multidimensional and emphasized public policies in the above section have multidimensional objectives that work in the areas of: poverty, economy, education, health care, decision making, violence and stereotypes. The following section focuses on the specific analysis of how these public policies are transforming the existing reality from a gender perspective. The question that emerges from this context is, what has been the result of these public policies and actions? To give an answer, this work proposes the scrutiny and analysis of some poverty, economic, and educational indicators as direct estimations of a first real impact of these policies. Other indicators such as health, violence and stereotypes are left aside for two reasons: the available space and even more important, for being a very specialized area in which 12

13 experts have already elaborated solid works (Azaola 2010; Enciso 2007; Collblack and Bhushan 2007). Women and Poverty It can be said that poor individuals are limited in exercising their rights as citizens when it is shown that they do not have a guaranteed access to goods and basic services. From this point of view they are subjects of marginalization without access to education, health, welfare, housing, etc. In this sense, poverty becomes a more severe issue for women who already face marginalization and situations of inequity. Poverty, therefore, heightens the situation of in this part of the population. Specifically, the analysis of poverty from a gender perspective can be done in relation to homes situation, based on their female or male head of household. To analyze the specific situation in terms of poverty, poverty indicators developed by CONEVAL (2007) are taken up again. CONEVAL distinguishes three types of poverty: food (FP), capabilities (CP) and patrimony (PP) 6. In the following table and line graph, the results of homes by poverty and head of household (male vs. female) are shown, being evident in both cases the upsurge of patrimony poverty against the rest of the kinds of poverty. FP CP PP Year Male Female Male Female Male Female FP CP PP Table 3 and graphic 1. Percentage of women and men by poverty type, Mexico,

14 Source: CONEVAL Note: The line graph shows in each line the analyzed year, and the dots indicate first the situation of male head of households and second the situation of female head of household by type of poverty. According to that official data from CONEVAL, feminine poverty has not only decreased in the analyzed years ( ), but it has also done it above with male as head of households. Even though there is a significant rise on poverty in rural areas regarding urban areas, this has happened in both male and female head of household homes. This explains public interest for developing credit programs to these particularly depressed zones (e.g. FOMMUR). Data Food Poverty Capabilities Poverty Patrimonial Poverty 2006 Male Female Male Female Male Female Urban Rural Table 4. Percentage of poor homes, National, Female head of household by urban and rural regions Source: Inmujeres, based on ENIGH 2006 and methodologies from CONEVAL for poverty lines. This study takes as an example the Jalisco case. It is important to mention that Jalisco is the state with the third highest GDP in the country and it is the second highest with economic growth generated in the period (INEGI 2007). However, the state is located in the 14 th place out of the 32 states in the country regarding the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) 7, with a GDI index of , slightly higher than the National with Data available for Jalisco in 2005, the last updated year, show in general lower figures than the national averages. Unfortunately, there is no disaggregated data by sex or head of households to complement this analysis from a gender perspective. 14

15 Type of Poverty Mexico Jalisco Mexico Jalisco Food Poverty Capabilities Poverty Patrimony Poverty Table 5. Poverty by income Source: CONEVAL and COEPO Jalisco. In an individual perspective of poverty between men and women, it is evident that poverty in Mexico has declined in the period The most significant is again the upsurge of the levels of patrimonial poverty. Even more, in this poverty level where women are poorer than men and the difference in absolute points is not very significant, it is still consistent throughout time (see table 5). FP CP PP Año Men Wom Men Wom Men Wom FP CP PP Table 6 and graphic 2: Percentage of poor homes by household, Mexico and Jalisco Source: estimated from CONEVAL, based on the II Counting on Population and housing 2005, and ENIGH Note: The line graph shows in each line the year and the dots indicate first the situation of male head of households and second the situation of female head of household by type of poverty. 15

16 Source: CONEVAL In general, the analysis may show that there has been a decrease in poverty. From 2002 to 2005 poverty has considerably decreased, but still presents concerning levels. Especially alarming is patrimonial poverty, measured in base of citizen s access to basic services as food, housing, health, etc. and, it is precisely in this poverty level where feminine poverty is situated. It could be said then, that feminization of poverty has moved from levels of extreme subsistence to levels of basic opportunity. In accordance with these results, homes with female head of households are not in general terms poorer than those with male head of households. However, women as individuals are in fact experiencing more poverty than men in the aspects that guarantee their incorporation to society as citizens with full rights. In other words, public policies have had positive effects in the reduction of poverty, but not necessarily on the feminization of poverty. Women and Economy Adopting a classic economic perspective in the analysis of gender equity implies reviewing indicators like: global employment and unemployment, activity in economic sectors and salary levels, among others. The review is made previously at a national level and regional indicators are integrated to Jalisco in data with updated information. This first graph compares the percentage of active population by men and women in a 10 years period is compared, taking as a starting point the year 1995, year when the Beijing Conference took place, and finishing in

17 Women men Graphic 3. Percentage of employed population, Mexico ( ). Source: INEGI National Employment Survey ( ) The line graph shows a gradual increase in women incorporated into the labor force at almost 1% a year, against a decrease of men s jobs in the same years. This incorporation of women into the labor force, although significant, still reflects a clear gap between both populations (in 2004: 35% women and 64.66% men). In the Jalisco case the percentages show an even bigger gap. For 2000, year with disaggregated data per region, Jalisco represented an employment rate for women at 33.61%, slightly a point less than the national average at 34.15%. Nevertheless, in 2009 there is a considerable rise: 39.6% of employed persons are women (COEPO-INEGI, 2009), which implies an important quantitative progress in respect to the type of growth with more than 5 points in only 9 years ( ). This encouraging increase in female employment seems at first impression to account for an advance towards gender equity in economic terms. However, if the employment population per sector data is examined more carefully, a very traditional pattern is evident: female employment is still relegated to the commerce and service sectors, as it is shown in the next bar graph (graphic 4), where it can be seen 69.4% of formal female employment is in the mentioned sectors, while for Jalisco 80% of female employment is in the service sector, 16.9% in the industry and only 2.1% in the primary sector (in 2009). 17

18 Graphic 4. Percentage of Employed Population by activity branch by sex, Mexico Source: INEGI, National Survey of Employment (2004). This approach is complemented with the unemployment and self-employment analysis represented in graphics 5 and 6. The first one shows a greater instability in female labor market against male market, where women have the highest unemployment percentage (see graphic 5). And, the second proves the challenge for women in terms of selfemployment, since the percentage of self-employed women (33.99 in 2004) is half the percentage of men (66.01 in 2004) Women Men Women Men Graphic 5. Unemployment percentage, Mexico ( ) Source: INEGI, National Employment Survey ( ) Graphic 6. Percentage of Self-employment, Mexico ( ) Source: INEGI, National Employment Survey ( ) 18

19 Another traditional debate has been situated around the matter of perceived wages for men and women. This debate has two lines of work: number one, to guarantee equity in salaries, and number two, to incorporate women in all wage levels, taking them out of the poorest sectors. In the following table one can see that in the rural sphere, 55.8% of active female population receives less than two times the minimum wage. In the city the situation is slightly better since 45.78% is between more than 1 and up to 3 times the minimum wage. Although salary disparities among men and women have decreased between the year 2000 (average increase for parity 14.4%) and 2008 (average increase for parity 9.5%), yet we cannot talk about equity based on the perceived remunerations. Income level Rural Urban Women Men Women Men Total 2,406,865 6,069,114 13,659,177 20,771,500 Up to the minimum wage More than 1 to 2 X min. wages More than 2 to 3 X min. wages More than 3 to 5 X min. wages More than 5X min. wages Has no income Unspecified Table 7. Economically Active Population by locality, gender and income level, Mexico. Source: Elaborated by the Consejo Estatal de Poblacion based on INEGI and STPS, National Occupation and Employment Survey According to the National Occupation and Employment Survey (Encuesta Nacional de Ocupacion y Empleo, ENOE), for 2008, the female economic participation rate was 42%. But this information must be taken with caution since a deeper analysis speaks for the deprivation in this job level for women. Along with wage insecurities is the issue of the time dedicated to work that is officially recorded. In this sense, the traditional definition of roles makes it difficult to incorporate women into labor market being that from the number of women that work, 35% do it part-time (less than 35 hours a week), while in the male sector only 17% do it in this way. Of course, in these statistics, the hours that women spent on average doing domestic work, taking care of children and older adults (21.2 hrs.) are not 19

20 counted. Women do not receive any economic compensation or benefits that would be owed to them if this work were considered from an economic point of view. On the other hand, men spend (7.5 hours) just a third part of women s time on these activities but they neither receive any payment (INEGI, 2010). One of the options against the loss of formal employment is self-employment. Graphic 6 show the lower percentage of workers on their own, that by 2004 was of 33.99% in women and 66.01% in men. According to INMUJERES report (2004), from the economic point of view efforts have focused on promoting women incorporation into business activities, this is self-employment. To achieve it, the access to funding for entrepreneur women with viable projects has been boosted. Among the relevant programs in this sense are PROFEMOR, that provides economic resources to women for their companies; PROMUSA, which gives micro-credits to women for the establishment of farms and this way helping female head of households; FOMUR, that increased the amount of given support from 54 million pesos (mdp) in 2003, to mdp in 2008, distributed through 22 institutions of micro-financing; and POPMI, operated by the National Commission for Indigenous People Development (CDI) that in 2008 spent 180 mdp to support 2,340 projects in benefit of 19,528 indigenous women with incipient organization level, high degree of marginalization and scarce economic and commercial experience to strengthen their organizational processes for the development of productive projects. Some of the mentioned programs in previous paragraphs are directly oriented to the most marginalized population, like the rural and indigenous. Especially in the rural sector, the greatest effort has been made through micro-credits. According to official data of the Micro-financing Found for Rural Women (FOMMUR, 2010) about the number of microcredits given in 2008, the percentage of micro-credits given is higher for women (70.40%). 20

21 This numbers also show the high responsibility and commitment of beneficiaries to its refund, with a 99.7% rate in Total of Total of Percentage Recovery Released Women (1) Women/total Percentage credits (1) (1) Data in thousands Table 8. Credit results FOMMUR Source: Micro-financing Found for Rural Women (2009). Continuing with the self-employment matter, a recent study about the situation of business women in Mexico showed that 75.7% has not received any type of credit and the ones that have received one are only 24.3%, most of them from the Economy Department (INMUJERES, 2008). The following table indicates the sources those financing, stressing the short range of the FONAES program with only 18.4% of the total received financing. Institution Frequency Percentage Ministry of Economy FONAES Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare Nacional Financial Bank (NAFINSA) Other Total Table 9. Grantor Institutions of funding for micro-entrepreneurships (2008). Source: INMUJERES, General Direction of Promotion and Link Sustainable Development Direction. Despite efforts and as sample of the persisting gap in gender equity, the Diagnosis on the Situation of Entrepreneurs (INMUJERES, 2008:1) points out that among the most important difficulties that female entrepreneurs face are: the lack of accompanying when a credit is given; the paucity of information, especially in remote localities from the capitals of federative entities; the difficulty to accomplish the requirements that the available credits in the market demand; the distrust about governmental efficiency to facilitate credit access; and limitations from the condition and position of entrepreneurs. Another important fact 21

22 that this research provides is the high education level between interviewed women, since almost the half, 47.8% have a degree and 23.7% also have a postgraduate. In this sense, the PYME Mexico Observatory (Secretaria de Economia, 2003) found out that the conclusion percentages of studies are similar between men and women that are owners of a business. Analyzing data from other perspective, it can be said that these women that are a successful example of self-employment, have as a characteristic a high training, above of the common averages of population. Education seems to be then an important variable to overcome gender inequity. For this reason the next section will try to summarize some relevant educative indicators. As a general panorama it is worth to note that: women experience a major unemployment level, and for that they are less active in formal employment as in self-employment. Perceived wages are lower than men s and job precariousness (full-time jobs) too. Overall, the situation has improved in the analyzed period, but there still are challenges in economic inequity of gender. Women and Education In the case of entrepreneur women, the situation on professional equity between men and women has a relevant relation with education levels. But it would be worth asking: what is the general situation of female population in Mexico in view of the legislative and public efforts that have been made on educative equality? In general, reported data by the Ministry of Public Education (Secretaria de Educacion Publica, SEP) for the analyzed period (2000 to 2006) 8 indicate similar percentages between men and women in all educational levels (see table 10). 22

23 Women Men Total Preschool Primary school Middle school Technical prof Bachelors Teacher s Degree University and technology degree Postgraduate course Table 10. Student Population Percentages by educational level 2001 (%). Source: SEP, Basic Statistic of the National Educational System. Begining of courses, In a more detailed study, this same report of the Ministry of Public Education report lower levels of educational desertion in women and also higher terminal efficiency in basic levels. Particularly for the scholar period the next table shows that desertion in women in primary and middle education is lower than in men. Scholar Primary Education Middle Education Cycle: Total Men Women Total Men Women Table 11. Desertion in primary and middle school index by sex, Mexico ( ). Source: SEP, Nevertheless, illiteracy reported levels are higher in global terms in women of all age ranges, although significantly higher in the more age intervals: and 60 and more. 23

24 Illiteracy Age Group Men Women Men Women Total and more Men 2000 Women 2005 Men Women 2005 Total and more Table 12 and Graphic 7. Illiteracy percentage in men and women. Source: INMUJERES, calculations based in INEGI, Population and Housing Census ( ), and INEGI, II Population and Housing Counting To complete the analysis, a review the indicators by region, urban and rural, shows the inequality situation that rural regions face. In these zones, illiteracy levels and lack of schooling came to be two and three times higher than urban. In the next table Jalisco s result are specifically used to illustrate such point. Specifically, men and women population percentages are shown by zone: urban versus rural. Indicator Rural Urban Women Men Women Men Education Percentage of illiterate population from 15 years old and older Population from 6 to 14 years old that does not attend school Table 13. Education in Jalisco. Source: Prepared by the Statal Population Council based in INEGI s II Population and Housing Counting Education has been a priority since first reunions about gender equity. From this point of view it has been understood as an essential goal to guarantee incorporation to labor market opportunities and participation as full rights citizens. In this sense, the data that has been presented in this section reflects important progress in terms of equality education 24

25 among men and women. However, some challenges, mostly related with illiteracy rates between some women groups are pointed out, especially in those who live in rural areas. Power exercise and Citizenship It was until 1953 that in Mexico women obtained the right to vote. This event is emblematic in women struggle for their rights, because the right to vote constitutes a political right that at the same time is associated with citizenship. There is formal citizenship, the one that is established in laws, substantive citizenship and that is exercised, which means that it is located in effective capabilities to exercise it (Garcia Quezada et al 2000). In gender equity terms, formal citizenship has narrowed to its minimum expression in the last years, being substantive citizenship where serious differences persist. In this sense, the exercise of political rights and women participation in public administration reflect the degree of progress. Female participation in politics and public administration in Mexico can be illustrated with the following information: 3 State Agencies (Foreign Relations, Tourism and Energy) out of a total of 19 agencies; in 2009, 40% of middle and superior management positions in public federal administration and 57% of operational positions; 2 ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice out of 11; 1 magistrate at the Electoral Court of the Federal Judiciary, who also chairs it (INMUJERES, 2009). In Legislative Power, women participate with: 133 deputies, out of a total of 500 deputations (Camara de Diputados 2010), and 27 senators out of 128 (Camara de Senadores 2010). Respecting governorships, only two women head an entity government (Yucatan and Zacatecas). The immediate consequence of the limited participation is invisibility of feminine voice, even for definition of programs and supports that are more appropriated for women. And in 25

26 the statal breakdown Jalisco is precisely one of the states that present the lowest equity levels (10%) in the country, just after Nayarit (10.3%) 10. Government position Total of government Amount of women in Percentage of female employees in functions representation position Deputies Ministries Magistrates Mayors State Governors Totals Table 14. Percentage of women in public positions, Jalisco, Source: equity of gender in public positions indicator, Jalisco Government Political participation (parliamentary seats) % Participation as government employees and directors % Participation as government employees % Level Value Women Men Women Men Women Men Relation of women s estimated incomes respecting men s Jalisco National Table 15. Men and women citizenship participation, National and Jalisco. Source: Human Development Index and Status of Women in Jalisco, State Population Board (2009). With the objective of increasing political participation of women, between 2005 and 2007, INMUJERES implemented the boost to political leadership program in the local area and in 2008 designed the Strategic Platform. However, if the current feminine representation in power exercise is considered, it can be deduced that the results of the established incentives by the programs have not being achieved yet. It is not surprising that the United Nations Development Programme Report (2004) situates Jalisco in the 27 th place respecting the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) of the 32 political entities in the country. This index reflects women participation in public life, so one of the government main goals is, or should be, encouraging women involvement in political processes, from which derives governmental decisions that concern them. Women lag in the exercise of 26

27 power is illustrated with the Gender Equity Index in High Level Public Positions, data of table 14 show the prevailing lag in the country. Conclusions Since 1975, date when Mexico hosted the International Conference on Women, it has maintained an active participation in the international forums and institutions that have established the guide lines for the improvement of women s living conditions. The Mexican government has made significant efforts to improve the conditions of Mexican women. In general, its public policies have been coherent with the action objectives established in the Beijing Conference, especially since the year An example of this is the creation of INMUJERES in 2001, which despite its limitations and mistakes has been with no doubt a motor on the way to equity. That way, the one of women struggle for equality has been slow and results, although positives in general, have not always been the best. This article provides evidence that suggests that this can owe to the fact that the majority of public policies have been orientated to mitigate economic poverty, leaving aside the obstacles that come with the context in which women get resources, both economic and other types. For example, two out of the four strategic objectives that are established in the Platform for Action of Beijing, are related with the access to economic resources and to credit mechanisms. Besides, usually in the definition of poverty there are mentioned the lack of economic resources as a key factor. In response to this, programs and actions direct their effort to create conditions for women development, access to economic resources and access to saving and credit institutions. The analysis made in this work allows asserting that progress has been important but that many challenges are still ahead before talking of gender equality in economic terms. For 27

28 mentioning some that have been published in this paper we find that unemployment, precarious work and wage inequality still have a woman face, And the most obvious solutions, self-employment and entrepreneurships are not a real way out since the cases of entrepreneur women and the percentages of self-employed workers are yet scarce. Although the data related with education show that there are more prepared women in all educational levels, the business culture is still completely alien for them. The clearest explanation may be found in patriarchal models that do not allow these women to imagine themselves as their own bosses in the working level, because in the familiar level they are responsible for an important part of the country s homes, which also are more economically successful that their masculine counterpart. By the above it can be concluded that it is required a more integral strategy to mitigate feminization of poverty,.i.e. poverty understood in a wider way that not only includes more elements, but in a deeper way. Attending in a particular and focalized manner those regions and areas inside the country that experience not only a higher poverty level, but greater obstacles to get out of it, like Jalisco. 1 The third area refers to adequate health services. 2 These twelve areas are: women and poverty; education and women trainging; women and health; violence against women; women and armed conflict; women and economy; women and decision making power; institutional mechanisms for women progress; women s human rights; women and media; women and environment; girls. 3 CONEVAL (2010) defines moderate multidimensional poverty: when a person has not guaranteed the exercise of at least of his or her rights for social development and if it incomes are not enough to get goods and services required to satisfy her basic needs. Meanwhile, extreme multidimensional poverty is considerate as: the populations that have such a low income that even if they dedicate it completely to food acquisition, they could not satisfy the necessary nutrients to have a healthy life; besides, they present at least three out of the six social shortages. 4 Chant (1997, 2007), Moghadam (1997), Cagatay (1998); Baden (1999); Davids and van Driel (2001, 2005); Wennerholm (2002); Medeiros and Costa (2006); in Chant (2008: 167). 5 These objectives are: 1) to institutionalize a transversal politic with gender perspective in Public Federal Administration, and build the mechanisms to contribute to its adoption in Union Powers, in governmental orders and in the private sector; 2)to guarantee legal equality, women s human rights and no discrimination in the rule of law framework; 3) to guarantee justice, security and civil protection access for women; 4) to 28