By Ms. Lourdes Jiménez Brito 

Conference Researcher

Inter-American Social Security Institute (CISS)

Have you noticed that when people talk about Mexico's National Care System, they don't mention adolescents or youth in general? Usually, when we think of care, we think of a very young child or a fragile elderly person. We still live under a care paradigm based on dependency: we mistakenly believe that only children and people with disabilities or the elderly require care. The truth is that all people need care throughout the life cycle: from birth to the end of our lives. Certainly, the demand for care varies throughout life: during youth and adulthood, we typically don't need as much care as at those other stages of life. However, without care, life simply wouldn't be possible for anyone.

Mexico is currently undergoing a public debate on the development of state responses to the current social organization of care. According to the National Survey for the Care System (INEGI, 2022), an estimated 58.3 million people in Mexico are eligible for care, considering only children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Of these, 64.51% of unpaid care workers receive care from a person in their household or another household, demonstrating their high level of familiarity. Regarding caregivers, 31.7 million people aged 15 and over reported having provided care to members of their household or other households. Of this population, 75.11% of unpaid care workers were women and 24.91% of unpaid care workers were men. This data demonstrates the feminization of unpaid care provided in homes. This feminization was already evident in time-use surveys: while women spend 39.7 hours a week on domestic and care work, men spend 15.2 hours, i.e., a gap of 24.5 hours (INEGI & INMUJERES, 2019). The 2023 Satellite Account of Unpaid Household Work in Mexico showed that the economic value of unpaid work in domestic and care work amounted to 8.4 trillion pesos, equivalent to 26.3% of the GDP of the entire economy (INEGI, 2024).

Faced with this scenario of strong familialization and feminization of care, President Claudia Sheinbaum has announced the creation of more childcare centers, the expansion of care services for the elderly, and the implementation of a possible—and progressive—National Care System. Given this, it is worth asking: Why are adolescents and young adults often invisible in the debate over the construction of a national care system for Mexico?

Let's first analyze the available data on the care provided by young people in Mexico. According to the 2019 National Time Use Survey (ENUT), between the ages of 12 and 14, girls spend an average of 12 hours a week on housework and seven on caregiving (19 hours in total). Boys of the same age spend 8.6 and 4.7 hours, respectively (13.3 hours in total) (INEGI & INMUJERES, 2019). From the beginning of adolescence, it is possible to notice a specialization of adolescent girls in domestic and caregiving tasks, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to their male peers, who have greater freedom to spend their time on other activities (Heatley & Jiménez, n.d.). By the age of 15 to 18, the differences become even more critical, highlighting the crystallization of gender roles associated with caregiving. If we add together the hours that adolescent girls aged 15 to 18 dedicate to active, passive[1] and indirect caregiving, the total caregiving burden amounts to 31.8 hours per week. Male adolescents, on the other hand, dedicate 18.7 hours per week. These data demonstrate how young women are increasing their caregiving burden in the family setting, and the gap with respect to men is also growing, reaching a difference of more than 13 hours per week.

Based on this evidence, we know very well that adolescents provide care. But do we know if they receive the care they need? ENASIC itself does not consider them a priority population (it only considers children, people with disabilities, and older adults), and their inclusion in the public discourse and narrative regarding care policies has been limited. It is often assumed that youth do not require care, both at the family level and in public policy. While it is true that their care needs are less intense than at other stages of life, public, community, and family responses should be considered worthy care options for this particular age group. Furthermore, it is essential to consider and promote their active and democratic participation in the processes that define these responses. It is essential to create specific conditions to ensure that the human right to care for youth in its three dimensions (to care, to receive care, and to self-care) is respected and guaranteed.

The organization of deliberative spaces that give voice to adolescents and young people can be considered good strategies for listening to their own preferences about what they need to exercise their right to care. It is necessary to promote the interdependence of care and to overcome, once and for all, the current social organization of care, which is highly familialized and feminized. Without a doubt, young people can be key allies in contributing strongly to achieving these goals.

References

Heatley, Ana & Jiménez Brito, Lourdes. Gender inequality and time use: Women facing care work overload across the life course in Mexico. Under review.

INEGI. (2022). National Survey for the Care System (ENASIC) 2022. Main results.

INEGI. (2024). Satellite Account of Unpaid Household Work in Mexico (CSTNRHM) 2023.

INEGI & INMUJERES. (2019). National Time Use Survey (ENUT) 2019. Presentation of results.

[1] The ENUT identifies passive care by asking whether, while performing some other main activity, the person cared for or was aware of any person (child, elderly person, sick person or person requiring special care).