Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1999, published 88th ILC session (2000)

1. The Committee notes the full statistical information sent by the Government in respect of levels of education, benefits and wages, disaggregated by sex. The Committee observes with interest that participation by women in the economically active population increased by two points between 1996 and 1998. The 1996 figure of 34.8 per cent rose to 36.9 per cent in 1998. However, it observes that the male figures for the same dates are 77.71 per cent and 78.2 per cent respectively. The Committee requests the Government to continue supplying information on developments in the situation.

2. Furthermore, in the table on working population showing the level of income according to sex and branch of economic activity for 1998, it can be seen that the proportion of women is higher in the lower wage scales. For example in the case of the mining, processing and electrical industries, 24.7 per cent of women working in the sector are to be found in the lower scale, as compared to men for whom the figure is 8.4 per cent. Consequently, to enable women to obtain more skilled and better paid employment, the Committee requests the Government to renew its efforts in training, and to keep it informed on any progress achieved in this regard. The Committee would also like to know whether the category under the heading "mining, processing and electrical industries" includes workers from export processing zones and asks the Government, when sending the next statistics, to include statistical data on export processing zones similarly disaggregated.

3. Having noted the information contained in the government report, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the seminars, meetings and conferences, the Action Plan "More and Better Jobs for Women in Mexico", and also the awareness campaigns on labour rights and obligations for women undertaken by the General Directorate of Equality and Gender, include the problem of compulsory pregnancy tests as part of the recruitment procedure, especially in export processing zones. Please supply copies of such material including, for example, pamphlets, reports, directives, etc.

4. The Committee also notes that, as stated in the presentation of the third and fourth periodic reports of Mexico to the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, in Chiapas 32.8 per cent of women over 15 years' old are illiterate, while 19.4 per cent of men of the same age are illiterate too. In Guerrero, these percentages stand at 28.1 for women and 19.6 for men. The same holds true in Oaxaca, where the figures are 29 per cent for women and 16.8 per cent for men. It also indicates that 48.9 per cent of indigenous women over 15 years of age can neither read nor write, a percentage roughly 20 per cent superior to the figure for men. The Committee also notes that compensatory programmes have been established aimed at overcoming educational backwardness in rural and indigenous communities. The Committee recalls that the generalization of free compulsory primary education remains one of the basic elements of a policy of equality of opportunities and treatment in employment and occupation. The Committee, taking account of the special difficulties in access to education of women who are also indigenous or live in poor rural zones, would like to be kept informed of the compensatory programmes regarding the sectors mentioned above, as well as on any other measure adopted, and on the development of the situation with regard to the education of indigenous women in the states mentioned.