Achieving Gender Justice through Transformative Feminist Economic Policies

Nayeli Fernandez, from PSI affiliate in Mexico, Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores del Seguro Social (the Mexican National Union of Social Security Workers), spoke at the UNCSW68 parallel event Revolutionizing public services in the Global South: Paving the Way to Gender Justice through Transformative Feminist Economic Policies co-hosted by ActionAid, PSI, Oxfam and WEDO.

Outlining the challenges women and girls face in accessing public services under the current economic system in Mexico, she emphasised PSI's joint Rebuilding the Social Organisation of Care Manifesto and Roadmap towards a feminist wellbeing economy.

Women and girls' access to public services in Mexico is unequal, a reality that hinders economic independence and social protection, and limits their participation in the current economic system. The COVID-19 pandemic has only further underscored these inequalities, revealing the deep-rooted gender-based violence and economic disparities that disadvantage women.

Among the key interconnected factors contributing to these disparities are the education gap, poverty and informal labor, wage gap and caregiving burden, and economic violence:

1. Education gap: Despite the significant strides being made towards gender equality worldwide, there is still a notable gender gap in education in Latin America and Mexico. Several factors such as lack of resources, early marriage or pregnancy prevent women from continuing their education.

2. Poverty and informal labor: Extreme poverty and informal labor practices in Mexico disproportionately affect women, particularly in rural areas. This often leads to an absence of social security, health benefits, and labor protection.

3. Wage gap and caregiving burden: Women earn significantly less than men, often due to spending more time on unpaid caregiving tasks or working in informal jobs.

4. Economic violence: This form of gender-based violence, which includes controlling financial resources, denying access to employment or education, and limiting the management of personal finances, hinders women's economic independence.

Feminism offers a transformative approach to these challenges. It advocates for an economy that prioritizes care for life in all its forms and aims to transform the ways of production and consumption.

The first step towards this transformation is rebuilding the social organisation of care. This involves changing injustice and inequality through the 5Rs: Recognise, Reward, Reduce, Redistribute, and Reclaim. It calls for the promotion of solidarity in public care systems and services, the redistribution of wealth, and the recognition of care as a human right.

It is essential to resist and challenge the power that corporations currently have in the global economic system. The role of the State, governments, and public services is crucial in ensuring new societies that change unequal gender relations and modify the asymmetrical relations between the Global North and South.

Care should be recognized as a social responsibility and regulated as a public and common good for humanity.

It is time we moved towards a feminist wellbeing economy that respects women's rights and promotes social justice.