Is Mexico Ready for Women to Lead Beyond the Presidential Level?

We are in a pivotal moment now where the women’s empowerment wave is flowing again, creating ripple effects across markets, industries, and countries. At the corporate level and in almost every conversation I have with HR leaders, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is a top priority for them to both attract and retain top talent. Some of these changes represent an opportunity to have a lasting impact for greater female representation and advancement in the workforce across many levels. We can also see this “feminist wave” sweeping across the cultural, academic and even political levels.

At a cultural level, the feminist movie Barbie, which grossed US$1.4 billion at the box office, became the highest grossing film in Warner Brothers’ history headed by the first solo female director, Greta Gerwig, to helm a billion-dollar movie. In Mexico City alone it became the highest grossing film ever with over 5 million attendees in one weekend. Not to mention that both Taylor Swift and Beyonce had the two highest grossing tours this summer at an estimated US$450 million, where Taylor Swift in Mexico generated US$56 Million in sales.

At an academic level, the Nobel Prize of Economics this year was awarded to Harvard Prof. Claudia Goldin for her work on understanding women’s changing role in the workforce and, most importantly, for uncovering the sociological explanations for the existing salary gaps between men and women that are largely attributed to motherhood. These findings can shed greater light on the existing gender pay gap in Mexico, which is at 16.7%, according to the OECD.

At a political level, here in Mexico, for the first time in our history, we find that the two top contenders for president, Xochitl Galvez and Claudia Sheinbaum, will lead to  Mexico’s first female presidency. This can have strong implications at the legislative level for women’s rights both inside and outside of the workforce.

So, where do we stand at the corporate level in Mexico and why is there so much more to be accomplished? 

• Labor participation: In Mexico, women only represent 47% of the labor force, far below the OECD average of 64% and below Brazil at 53% and Chile at 50%.
• Leadership ranks: According to the 2022 McKinsey report Women Matter conducted in Mexico and surveyed across 120 Mexican companies, women’s participation at the managerial level is at 37% (versus the United States at 51%) and as we go up the corporate ladder women represent a meager 21% at the vice president level (only +2% versus the 2017 study) and only 10% at the CEO level.  

Source: McKinsey Report: Women Matter

• Boards: Women represent a meager 7.8% of board positions among listed companies in the Mexican stock exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores). That is basically one woman on average for a board of 10 people. 

How can we expect to move the needle on these grim numbers?

First, what is the compelling business case to have more diverse talent in your company?

With regard to the bottom line, a comprehensive report was published in 2009 by Ernst and Young, Groundbreakers, which found a correlation between the bottom line for corporate performance and the number of women in senior leadership positions. If a company was able to attain a critical mass of women at one-third of boards and senior management, performance was significantly higher. Later, a 2018 study EY conducted, the Global Leadership Forecast that was run across 2,400 organizations in 50 countries, revealed that gender diversity contributes to companies being 1.4 times more likely to have sustained profitable growth. 

Our chief diversity officer at LinkedIn, Rosanna Durruthy, recently came down to Mexico and in an interview with El Economista she states that Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DIB) is  critical to stay competitive because ¨…our differences help us obtain better opportunities, be it creativity, product innovation, customer confidence and connection amongst communities.”

Second, how can companies ride this wave and make gender diversity a key competitive advantage for their company?

1. Get CEO buy-in and allyship: Getting the C-suite committed to making these systemic changes in their organization is critical. At LinkedIn, there is not one All Hands biweekly meeting where CEO Ryan Roslansky doesn’t mention the importance of DEI as a strategic imperative for the roll out of our products and services, in our culture and across our (Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). We need male allies especially at the top that can push the top-down commitment to drive this change at all levels of the organization. 
2. Combat cultural bias in Mexico: There are still deeply ingrained conscious and unconscious biases in Mexico that expect working mothers to stay at home and be the caretakers of their family at the expense of their careers. A compelling finding in the same McKinsey report asked OECD countries if a woman has a job, do her children suffer; Mexico had the highest response of 54% stating yes, they do, versus the United States at 20%. 
3. Sustain Hybrid and Remote Work: One of the biggest barriers in the gender wage gap that Claudia Goldin mentions in her research is “greedy work,” paying employees disproportionately more for working longer hours and weekends with this “always-on” work culture that primarily benefits men over women. Consequently, the working mom then makes the sacrifice either to leave the workforce altogether or take jobs that imply pay cuts and professional setbacks in order to care for her family. COVID has demonstrated that we can do our work remotely and deliver equally good results. The new remote/hybrid work policies have been the silver lining for women to give them the flexibility needed to better manage their professional and personal responsibilities at home, consequently incentivizing women to stay in the workforce and continue growing while reducing the existing salary gender gap.
4. Implement mandatory paid parental leave for BOTH parents: Goldin states that you can’t achieve gender parity until you achieve couple parity. One way to accomplish this is for not only the mother but for the father to have paid paternity leave and contribute to raising a newborn right out of the hospital. This would set the precedent of a clear division of responsibilities of “health, division of caring tasks, relational stability and continuity of mother’s employment,” according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).  
5. Empower the powerful networks: In her book Powering Up, Anne Doyle recognized the progress made by and for women in the United States  over the past 50 years, but that we are still far behind. She points out that women not only need to achieve but also to lead at the forefront to help create systemic change and female networks (such as  Abogadas MX, IWF Mexico, Mujeres Invirtiendo, and MBA Mujeres de Mexico) and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are a powerful driving force to make this happen: to establish corporate friendly policies, create a sense of belonging, mentoring, and coaching other women and even propose legislative changes at the political level. 

It’s important to not underestimate what is really at stake here: Do we embrace this moment and strive to create a more inclusive society or do we decide to be complacent at this vital moment and miss out on moving the needle forward for women’s advancement in Mexico? What is your company doing to move the needle and how can you play a critical role as a potential ally or as a female in a leadership position in your company?

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