August 13, 2021 | Judicial Watch
U.S. Allots $10 Million to Improve Gender Equity in the Mexican Workplace
As gender discrimination and wage gaps persist in the American workforce, the U.S. government is spending $10 million to help tackle the issue in Mexico. The taxpayer dollars will fund programs that help improve gender equity in the Mexican workplace by increasing the number of women in union leadership, addressing discrimination and harassment at work, augmenting wages for women, and strengthening protections. “Gender equity refers to fairness in the treatment of women and men,” according to the grant announcement outlining the Mexican project. The goal is for worker organizations in the impoverished Latin American nation to advance gender proportionality in leadership and participation and that they undertake sustained action to promote gender equity in the workplace.
Uncle Sam is dedicating millions to this issue because “landmark” constitutional reforms enacted by Mexico in 2017 to transform its labor justice system have yet to be implemented. Among them are prohibitions against workplace discrimination, harassment and violence based on gender, the requirement of negative pregnancy tests for women to be hired, retained, or promoted and a ban against firing women who become pregnant. Sexual harassment by employers is also part of the four-year-old Mexican reform measures as well as a requirement for unions to have proportional gender representation. Additionally, workers in Mexico are supposed to be protected against employment discrimination based on sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, and caregiving responsibilities. The measures serve as “important advances,” the U.S. asserts, but “their implementation remains a significant challenge.”
https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/u-s-allots-10-million-to-improve-gender-equity-in-the-mexican-workplace/
