Young Mexican women suffer from lack of opportunities, entrenched prejudices

Mexico, a country of about 110 million people, is young. The median age is 26. Over 36 million, a third of the population, is between 12 and 29 years old. Twenty percent of them, almost eight million young people, have nothing to do every day. They don't go to school and they don't work, because there are no jobs. Mexico refers to them as "ninis." Among that group with little or no future, 78%, nearly six million, are girls and young women.

The statistics were disclosed yesterday in a report on a 2010 survey conducted jointly by Mexico's Secretary of Education and the National Youth Institute. The report says that 72% of the women end up in the country's domestic labor force, providing housekeeping and childcare for more affluent members of society (Mexico's domestic workers suffer lifetime of institutionalized discrimination).

"The main problem is with women," said a researcher who participated in the study. "We had thought that we were making progress, but a significant number (of women) still have no access to opportunities, for reasons associated with (workplace) inequality between men and women." The researcher said that "there are invisible or barely visible forces" which make upward social and economic movement very challenging for millions of young women. He noted that many leave school before male counterparts, usually for economic reasons. Girls are often expected to help support their impoverished families, including parents and younger siblings.

"We have to focus on public policies which will address this serious problem," said the researcher, noting that Mexico ranks at the top of member states of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development in the category of young people who neither work nor study. The survey revealed that among Mexico's eight million aimless youth, over 43% have only a primary school education.

The survey was sent to 30,000 households in November and December 2010, and was targeted at the 12 to 29 age group. In some states, notably Mexico and the Federal District, 50% of respondents or more (male and female) said they neither work nor attend school. The state of Veracruz also ranked high in young people who have nothing to do.

Earlier this week Mexico's first official nominee in the 2012 presidential race, PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, announced a "New Deal style" plan to make seven million jobs available to young people in the first year of his administration, four million of them within just six weeks.

"There are no jobs, young people have been ignored, and that's why they've ended upon in the hands of drug traffickers, who've promised them everything they want if they go down that road. We're not going to ignore Mexico's youth," said López Obrador. But his political opponents have said that the goal is unrealistic and will be impossible to reach.

Sept. 13, 2011 - Gobierno: ocho de cada 10 jóvenes que no estudian ni trabajan son mujeres