It was necessary to close the gender gap in the 2020 pension reform: Mexico, how are we doing?

The reform to the Social Security Law (LSS) of 2020 has been rated as good, it was even recognized internationally, however it was necessary to close the gaps in terms of gender equality. That said, a Comprehensive Care System is necessary, according to the organization México, ¿Cómo vamos?

Ana González Franco, coordinator of inclusion and development of the civil association, affirmed that women work less for care work in the family, which is why a Comprehensive System is necessary to alleviate the ravages of inequality.

“There is a proposal in the Senate for a Comprehensive Care System where it is requested that there be infrastructure and where people, but especially women, can care for their children or relatives and can dedicate themselves to professional work,” said Gónzalez Franco. in the presentation of the report “Mexico, how are we doing with retirement savings? Diagnosis and recommendations to improve retirement savings in Mexico”.

With a Comprehensive System, the participation of women in the formal market would explode and with it would push the access to social security and to obtain an account in a retirement fund administrator (afore), said Gónzalez Franco.

Data from the National Commission of the Retirement Savings System (consar) reveal that women can have a pension 40% less than that of men because they leave the formal labor market.

See the case of countries in the region

In addition to the above, Mexico, how are we doing? He explained that they could promote policies that other countries have carried out to reduce the disadvantage of women compared to men in retirement savings.

For example, Bolivia, Chile, and Uruguay grant a bonus per child to mothers who have worked in the formal market.

Or like in Chile there is a transfer of pension funds in case of divorce for men or women who have been in the formal labor market.

Suspension of transfers, good

At the same press conference, Juan Hernández, director of Latin America at Vanguard, an investment company and investment funds, described the suspension of account transfers between Afores as positive.

The director at Vanguard commented that the creation of pension advisors also eliminates the incentive to transfer worthless accounts and that they only generated costs for fund managers.

It should be remembered that the former promoter agents charged a commission for changing accounts.