Women Migrant Workers in Mexico Stand Up for Rights UN Women
go to original July 25, 2016

Drawing made by the women who participated in the workshop “Migración Género y Desarrollo”. (Voces Mesoamericanas: Acción con Pueblos Migrantes/Rodrigo Barraza)

On the Mexican border countless female migrant workers live in precarious conditions, working in the informal economy. According to data from the 2010 census, eight out of every ten people live in poverty in the State of Chiapas and 55 per cent of those born in other countries are women, mostly from Central America. In addition, there are many internal migrants from various parts of the country who routinely face abuse and discrimination.

... In late 2015 and early 2016 a series of 39 training courses were organized all over Mexico by UN Women in partnership with five civil society organizations, including Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Matías de Córdova, Voces Mesoamericanas: Acción con Pueblos Migrantes, Instituto para las Mujeres en la Migración (IMUMI), Instituto de Liderazgo Simone de Beauvoir and Sin Fronteras, I.A.P. The trainings in the southern border area brought together local organizations, migrant women and civil servants to discuss ways to address migration, gender and development.

These sessions offered safe spaces where migrant women could share their experiences, and local organizations and civil servants could discuss how to leverage their influence at various levels to improve the lives of migrant women. The participants identified that a key lever is acknowledging that migration affects women and men differently and analysing migration from a gender perspective. They highlighted, when women migrate they usually look for other women to care for their sons and daughters in their country of origin; also, female migrants tend to find more informal work with lower wages, such as domestic work or retail work.

... UN Women has produced a large number of new studies and data to support these actions with the funding from the EU, including an assessment of the compliance of Mexican legislation with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which is considered the international charter for women's rights, and a guide for the formulation of gender-aware legislation.

“Regulating the work of migrant women and ensuring their rights according to international standards is an issue of equality and efficiency, and critical to all aspects of development,” says Ana Güezmes, UN Women Representative in Mexico.

Read the rest at UN Women

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