Building a care society is crucial for women's empowerment: Alicia Bárcena

Building a care society is crucial for women's empowerment: Alicia Bárcena

• At the Pacific Alliance Ministerial Meeting, the Foreign Secretary called on member countries to establish mechanisms promoting equal pay and social protection for women.

Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena participated yesterday in the Second Ministerial Meeting on Women's Empowerment and Economic Autonomy of the Pacific Alliance during her visit to Santiago, Chile.

In her remarks, Foreign Secretary Bárcena emphasized that transitioning to a care-oriented society is a priority for Mexico. "We need to move from an extractivist society that protects privileges and denies rights, to a more egalitarian care society. A care society represents a true paradigm shift; it's not just adding another activity to the economy."

"Our aim is to unlock women's empowerment and economic autonomy, not just to bring them into the economy, but to do so on equal terms," she stated. "When women advance, the whole society advances. That's what this is about-enabling all women to become masters of their own destiny."

She said that the Pacific Alliance recognizes women as "a powerful, untapped economic engine…We have an enormous opportunity if we can fully integrate women's issues into the Alliance's mechanisms."

"The Pacific Alliance is one of the forums in which the private sector participates. Through these public-private partnerships, we can make significant progress. We need to set criteria for the Alliance and its participants, including systems to monitor wages and social protection and a supervisory mechanism to ensure that all companies participating in the Alliance meet certain criteria, such as equal pay," the Foreign Secretary emphasized.

Additionally, Foreign Secretary Bárcena discussed feminist foreign policy (FFP). "Chile and Mexico have been regional leaders in FFP. This shouldn't be just a declaration, but should translate into actions such as appointing women ambassadors, achieving parity within diplomacy, and incorporating a gender perspective into major global agreements," she concluded.