In Mexico, a gap persists in access to employment and income for women. This has been documented by the International Labor Organization and by data collected in INEGI surveys.

The ENIGH 2022 identified, for example, that the average quarterly income of women is 19,081 pesos compared to 29,285 for men. In the 2022 National Discrimination Survey, 24.1% of the women surveyed indicated that they had been discriminated against in accessing a job or obtaining a promotion. The differences in access to formal jobs, better salaries and social security between men and women have an important impact on people's lives and economic autonomy.

The lack of access to quality jobs for women and the persistent gap in salaries are associated with gender roles: women are expected to carry out unpaid household chores, while these stereotypes associate men with supplier role. This social dynamic is maintained even though the reality is very different. There are a large number of family arrangements and many women are the sole breadwinners of their home. However, care tasks have not been redistributed and, therefore, there is talk of the double shift that women perform: one is work and the other is care.

The problem is that, although equality and non-discrimination are fundamental principles enshrined in the Constitution, the State and the market have not assumed their co-responsibility. There are not enough services nor are measures contemplated for men to assume their part of this role.

Therefore, it is of great relevance that on October 18, 2023, the first chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation in Mexico unanimously approved two historic rulings in the recognition of the human right to care. In the first, it recognizes the right to care, to be cared for and to self-care. It points out that these tasks are distributed unequally and that this constitutes a disadvantage particularly for women and girls. It also points out that the State must guarantee these rights. In the second, it indicates that, in the dissolution of a marriage, whoever has carried out the care tasks deserves compensation.

These rulings are a watershed in the recognition of the right to care in Mexico. For almost three years, a constitutional reform to article 4 has been detained in the Senate of the Republic, after having been approved in the Chamber of Deputies. With this reform, it was expected that, in addition to explicitly incorporating the right in the constitutional text, it would result in the Legislative Branch issuing a general law to create a national care system. This has not happened and, therefore, neither the law nor the care system exists.

Hence the historical importance of the two Supreme Court rulings: they contribute to providing legal certainty and directing actions to guarantee the right to care. Furthermore, it is a significant step for this agenda full of prejudices and stereotypes about women and girls, their lives, their capabilities and the social roles assigned to them.