The Sociodemographic Effects of the Crisis in Mexico

Chapter Two: Female Work & Economic Changes in Mexico, 1976-1987 Brígida García and Orlandina de Oliveira[1]

Introduction

In recent decades, Mexican women, as in the majority of the developed countries and the Third World, have noticeably increased their presence in the labor market.[2] Nevertheless, the level of female participation in Mexico is still lower than that reported in developed countries,[3] even though it has increased from 16% in 1970 to 32% in 1987, as a percentage of all females over 12 years of age.

The figures for different time periods show that between 1979 and 1982 - the petroleum boom years - female participation reached its highest annual growth rate (6.3% annually) as a result of the expansion of nonmanual jobs in the most modern branches of services and in manufacturing. Between 1982 and 1987, years marked by the economic crisis,[4] the level of increase in female participation remained high (5.6% annually), even though it was less than in the expansion years (Table 1).

[Table 1 goes in here]

In previous analyses about the effects of the economic crisis on the profile of female labor, we see that between 1982-1987, unlike what happened between 1976-1982, older women, married women with small children, and those with low levels of education considerably increased their economic participation. This includes women who, until the seventies, had a limited presence in the Mexican labor market.[5] Young women with higher education have not increased their rate of entry into the work force in the eighties. However, qualified older women have done so, perhaps because of their importance in maintaining their standards of living or those of their families (García and Oliveira, 1993).

In this study we analyze changes found in female labor force participation rates during the years of expansion (1976-1982) and subsequently during the Mexican economic crisis (1982-1987). We analyze the importance of different sociodemographic characteristics (age, education, marital status, number and ages of children) on agricultural and non-agricultural, manual and non-manual, and salaried and non-salaried activities. Our goal is to locate the main transformations in the female labor force market, to analyze how the characteristics of participants have changed in the different sectors of the work force. We used information from three fertility surveys: la Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF) from 1976, la Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END) from 1982,[6] and la Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES) from 1987, all of which included important data about the female labor market at the national level, even though they only cover a specific segment of the active female population - women of reproductive age.

CHANGES IN THE OCCUPATION OF WOMEN: 1976-1987

The significant increase of economic contribution of women with low levels of education and of married women with children in the years of the economic crisis has been accompanied by important modifications in the occupations that they enter: the worst occupations such as in agriculture and nonsalaried manual sectors have become important sources of income for many.[7] The reduction in the number of salaried jobs in the years of the crisis has contributed to the expansion of self-employment, as has been pointed out in other studies (García, 1988; Oliveira, 1989; Selby et al. 1990; Chant, 1991; González de la Rocha and Escobar, 1991). Many of the women who have entered the labor market have not obtained salaried jobs because they do not have adequate qualifications or because they cannot work full time because of their domestic obligations.

Now we present the variations in the economic incorporation of active women from 20 to 49 years of age in the years 1976, 1982, and 1987, and point out the differences in age, level of education, marital status, and number and ages of children of labor force participants.

In order to make comparisons among the different surveys, we grouped the occupation variables into four sectors: agricultural, nonmanual, nonsalaried manual and salaried manual.

We have made a distinction between agricultural and nonagricultural activities, since the traditionally conceived female economic activity is found for the most part in the nonagricultural branches. And, as is known, in countries such as Mexico, the social inequalities between the rural agricultural population and the urban nonagricultural population are extremely marked.

Among the nonagricultural activities we separated the non-manual from the manual activities because it has been amply documented in the literature on stratification and social inequality, as in our own earlier studies, that this is a basic distinction that captures differences within the qualifications of work force participants, wages, standards of living and life styles (see, Muñoz, Oliveira and Stern, 1981; García, Muñoz and Oliveira, 1982, García and Oliveira, 1993).

The nonmanual occupations include professionals and technicians, administrators and high and middle level public officials, office workers and businesspersons and vendors in fixed establishments. Manual occupations refer to street vendors, service and production workers, including domestic workers. Manual occupations have subsequently been divided into salaried and nonsalaried because of the importance of self-employment activities at the national level since they particularly have grown during the years of the crisis, at the cost of growth of salaried activities.

1. Agricultural Workers

According to the figures of the Population Census of 1970 and 1980 the percentage of agricultural workers in the active female labor force in Mexico has increased slightly from 9.5 percent to 11.1 percent. Studies of particular regions have confirmed this increase of women in agricultural work during the past decade, but they clearly show that the increase could have been due to a change in the census criteria for capturing this type of work (García, 1984; Mummert, 1987).

[Table 2 goes in here]

The information from the fertility surveys shows that the percentage of women in agricultural activities falls between 1976 and 1982, but increases slightly in the subsequent period from 1982 to 1987.[8] The interviewees who increased their participation in agricultural activities between 1982 and 1987 were older, illiterate or had never completed primary school, married, with fewer and smaller children (see Table 2). This increase has paralleled an increase of female labor in rural areas in general. According to figures presented by Rendón y Salas (1990), the net rate of rural female participation increased from 14.7 in 1979 to 31.3 in 1988. (Calculations were done by the authors using the results of the Encuesta Contínua de Ocupación from 1979 and from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo from 1988). Tuñon et al. (1990) show that female labor in rural areas has become diversified by:

a) the incorporation of young women into the agroindustries in regions of agricultural exportation or as workers in rural manufacturing workshops;

b) the increasing participation of married women and with children in housework through subcontracting of poorly paid and unprotected piece work, and

c) the feminization of small plot agriculture (minifundio). In many cases, women have become the ones in charge of cultivating the family plot, while the rest of the family members earn wages in the local, regional or international market.

This higher frequency of married women with children in the agricultural market supports some hypotheses regarding changes in the division of labor by gender in difficult times when agricultural domestic units must diversify their survival strategies (Oliveira and Salles, 1989). Studies for several third world countries illustrate how male migration contributes to the increased work load of women (Simmons, 1984). In Mexico, during the eighties, the greater female participation on the plots/parcelas has produced an additional work load for the peasant women, who have to do the productive and reproductive work (domestic work and child care) in precarious conditions (Tuñon, et. al., 1990; Mummert, 1990).

2. Non-manual Workers

Traditionally, women's participation in non-manual activities such as those of nurses, teachers, secretaries, vendors and office workers, has been high. In developed countries where long term statistical data exists on the division of labor by gender, the studies generally conclude that only modest advances have occurred in the modification of the noted concentrations (see, Blau and Ferber, 1985).

In Mexico, according to census data, in 1970, nonmanual activities already accounted for 39.2% of the female labor force and by 1979 the percentage rose to 50% (ECSO, 1979). The percentage of women from 20 to 49 years of age in nonmanual activities also grew from 1976 and 1987 according to the fertility surveys. Single women, young women and those with more education get these jobs, as much in times of economic expansion (1976-1982) as in less privileged times (1982-1987) (Table 3).

[Table 3 goes in here]

Nonetheless, there are important differences between the two periods. Between 1976 and 1982 the high demand for women with some educational qualifications contributed to the fact that more married women, especially those with more, small, children, as well as divorcees, women who are separated or widowed increased their participation in nonmanual activities.

This increase is associated with that of active females with middle school or vocational school education. They notably increased their presence in the active population in 1982, compared to 1976 (Table 4).

[Table 4 goes in here]

Women with these educational backgrounds have always been able to enter some non-manual activities. And if one breaks down the non-manual occupations, the increase between 1976 and 1982 is due as much to the increase in professionals and technicians as in office workers, contrary to the recent international experience for Latin American countries which experienced growth only in the last category (see Anker and Hein, 1987). This shows important improvements in the female participation in the years of economic boom, even in the light of the high degree of female concentration in the occupations of nurses and teachers during those years (data not presented in the tables).

The situation is very different during the crisis, from 1982 to 1987. The participation of women in nonmanual occupations decreases sharply, both in the professional occupations and with technicians and office workers. Nonmanual activities lose relative importance, above all among women with primary and middle school education, married, with more and small children, and the ever-married.[9] Higher levels of credentials and more rigid control over labor recruitment are found in times of recession. Women with average or below average education were found in nonmanual jobs to a lesser degree in 1987 than in 1982. By 1987 female workers with more domestic responsibilities were not as able to get nonmanual jobs as they had been in 1982.

3. Nonsalaried female manual workers

An analysis of the global changes in the labor market indicates that nonsalaried activities decreased systematically and clearly in Mexico until 1970, principally due to the transformation of the agricultural sector (García, 1988). The number of nonsalaried occupations in nonagricultural categories was constant or showed slight growth until 1979 but, since then, different studies and informal observation indicate that it has increased during the eighties.[10] Self-employed and unpaid family workers in non-agricultural activities represented 16% of the occupied population in 1970, 20% in 1983 and 24% in 1988.[11]

Data from the principal metropolitan areas for the period 1983-1987 makes it clear that in the center of Mexico and in the less developed regions of the south and southeast, the percentage of self-employed workers increases more among the female population than among the male population (Oliveira, 1989).

Women from 20 to 49 years of age reduced their relative importance in nonsalaried manual activities between 1976 and 1982, and they increased it in a noteworthy manner in the following five years rising from 7.6% to 18.5%. All of the female workers with different levels of education participated in this relative increase in nonsalaried manual activities from 1982 to 1987, but especially those with minimal education. Married women also became important -particularly those with more and small children - as did separated women, divorced and widowed women, who were already well represented in nonsalaried activities throughout the whole period of the study (Table 5).

[Table 5 goes in here]

A breakdown of self-employed manual activities shows that, on the one hand, during the recession years the self-employed occupations were associated with the poorest households. This is probably the case for street vendors who practically doubled their percentage from 1982 to 1987 and who represent one of the increases in "informal sector activity" so characteristic of the eighties. Self-employed producers, like street vendors, doubled their relative importance in the eighties (information from the END and ENFES not shown in the tables). Nonetheless, the expansion of the self-employed production is not the exclusive result of the reactivation of subsistence mechanisms on behalf of the families, but it is also linked to much larger processes of subcontracting of work to homes by businesses or industrial factories (Benería and Roldán, 1987; Arias, 1988). These results confirm the amply documented heterogeneity of the sector of the self-employed, which is considered by what is often discussed under the rubric of the informalization of the economy.[12]

4. Salaried Manual Workers

Salaried manual occupations are, like the other groups, very heterogeneous; they include service and manufacturing workers. Studies for several Latin American countries show that in the last two decades the presence of females in manual service activities has been decreasing while in manufacturing the tendency varies by country. In the majority of the analyzed cases a fall in female participation in manual manufacturing activities has taken place due to the diminishing importance of industries that use manual labor. In the rest of countries, among which Mexico is included, female participation has increased in electronics, clothing and footwear for export (Anker and Hein, 1987; UNCTAD, 1983).[13] Other studies of Mexico also show a slight increase of women in salaried manufacturing activities from 1970 to 1979 (García, 1988).

The information from the surveys we analyzed indicate that there were changes in the female participation in salaried manual activities during the eighties and that the changes were different for women with different characteristics. Between 1976 and 1982, married women , older women, and women with low education, considerably increased their participation in salaried manual activities. On the other hand, between 1982 and 1987 the women with the same characteristics left this sector of the work force (Table 6).

[Table 6 goes in here]

The decrease for women with low education, combined with the fact that women with middle school education increased their participation in salaried manual activities, reaffirms the hypothesis, already presented for the case of nonmanual occupations, of an increase in credentialism. This is, employers preferred young women with more education instead of those who were older with low levels of education.

The decrease of married women (41%, from 1982 to 1987) in salaried manual activities also stands out. The competition for the few jobs available in the crisis years made it impossible for married women to keep the level of salaried manual jobs that they had in 1982. Only women with more schooling and no family responsibilities had the characteristics to maintain their presence in salaried jobs even though they are manual (Table 6).

If the salaried manual occupations are broken down, we find important differences between manufacturing and services. According to our information, only salaried occupations in the nondomestic services absorbed labor force. This result points out in the same direction of previous studies that stress the investments that have been made in the more modern branches of the tertiary sector during the crisis (Rendón and Salas, 1992).

By contrast, the opportunities for domestic work decreased. During the 1982-1987 period, the percentage of women in this activity went down from 11.4% to 7.5% among the population aged 20 to 49 years. Figures for the principal metropolitan areas of Mexico even show a decrease in absolute numbers of salaried domestic workers in the eighties (Pedrero, 1990). It is probable that middle class families reduced their expenses in difficult times by not hiring domestic servants (De Barbieri and Oliveira, 1986; González de la Rocha, 1992).

Salaried manual jobs in manufacturing shrunk considerably during the period 1982-1987 (from 10.3% to 5.2%). The reduction of manufacturing employment does not square with other sources of information. National manufacturing industry lost importance in the eighties, but the export oriented industries have shown dynamism and have created job opportunities for the female population. Analysis of economic surveys that are based on formally established firms, report an increase in women workers between 1980 and 1985, fact that is explained by the growth of the maquiladora industry. Moreover, increases in women's participation in the manufacturing industry have also been observed in various Mexican cities (Chihuahua City, Tampico, Torreón in the north, Guadalajara and León in the central region, and in the border cities; see Cruz and Zenteno, 1987, Oliveira, 1989, Pedrero, 1990). The discrepancy among different sources can be due to the fact that the increases in established firms have been regionally concentrated, and therefore, are not of sufficient magnitude to establish a national tendency. Moreover, one must not forget that we are considering only women in reproductive years, and so there are problems arising from different sampling schemes in the different sources.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

The objective of this study has been to document the principal modifications in the occupation of women between 20 to 49 years of age during the years of economic expansion and crisis in Mexico: 1976-1982 and 1982-1987. We saw that the contraction of salaried employment opportunities in the recession years, linked to the changes in the characteristics of the feminine labor and the existence of more rigid employment requirements, has produced important changes in the occupation of women.

It was clear that between 1982 and 1987, nonsalaried manual occupations increased relative to the salaried manual jobs and to nonmanual jobs. One could argue that the increase in self-employment in Mexico, is a conjunctural phenomenon, and that the salarization of labor will spring back with the revitalization of the economy. Nevertheless, even in this case, it is possible to expect an increase in self-employment in the short run and intermediate term resulting from the fact that the growing supply of labor cannot get or perhaps does not want salaried jobs. The supply of labor in Mexico will continue to grow, for different reasons: continuing expansion of the population in the economically active age range, the lag in job creation in recent years and the regressive distribution of income. Additional factors such as the possible increase in age at marriage and recent decrease in the levels of fertility may, in the near future, contribute to an even greater increase in the supply of female labor. The spread of subcontracting from the west of Mexico to several other regions might also increase self-employment and the greater absorption of women into the work force. The implementation of specific government policies for increasing self-employment in order to offset job scarcity in Mexico in the short run and intermediate term should also be mentioned (Oliveira and García, 1990).

The phenomenon of employment contraction and greater credentialism in the salaried labor market can be seen in the changes affecting nonmanual jobs. Women with low or medium levels of education had fewer nonmanual jobs in 1987 than in 1982. Moreover, fewer women with domestic responsibilities had nonmanual jobs in 1987 than in 1982.

In sum, there are more women who have occupations outside the home, but during the years of the crisis the relative frequency of jobs which require high credentials and which give more labor security decreased in a striking manner. Moreover, in Mexico, like in other Latin American countries, although more married women with children have entered the labor market, there have been no important changes in the gender division of household work, nor has there been a significant increase in the number of day care centers.[14] As a consequence the work load of women has increased and, facing the lack of institutional support for adequate child care, women that work out of economic necessity are obliged to take part time work or nonsalaried occupations so that they can get their housework done as well as their income-earning activities and fulfill their assigned social responsibilities as wives, mothers, and housewives. All this contributes to the reinforcement of the disadvantageous situation of females in the labor market.

APPENDIX

Methodological Aspects and Adjustments

The three fertility surveys used in this study (la Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad-EMF; la Encuesta Nacional Demográfica-END; and la Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud-ENFES) are based on a multi-staged and stratified sampling strategy of households which yields a representative sample of women in their reproductive years. All surveys included questions on households and individuals.[15]

The EMF formed part of the program, World Fertility Survey which was carried out in Mexico by the Dirección General de Estadística, of the then Secretaría de Industria y Comercio. The field work was carried out between July 1976 and March 1977. It was based on an unweighted sample of women between the ages of 20 and 49, along with the ever-married between 15 to 19, having at least one living child. We have used the available information for 7,310 women, of which 48.1% are located in rural areas with less than 20,000 inhabitants; 22.7% in urban areas of 20,000 to 499,999; and finally 29.2% in urban and metropolitan areas larger than 500,000 inhabitants. The information of this survey has been used in numerous sociodemographic analyses performed in Mexico and has been submitted to specific evaluation processes (see Ordorica and Potter, 1981). The principal conclusion of these authors, supported by the analyses carried out, is that "the EMF without a doubt constitutes a great contribution to the group of available data about demography in Mexico. Everything appears to indicate that the survey was executed with care and the results appear to be as free of response errors as one should reasonably expect" (p. 28).

The END was carried out by the National Population Council in February and March of 1982. Eligible women were all those between the ages of 15 and 49 years, without the restrictions imposed by the EMF. We have used the available information for 10,204 women, of which, in the unweighted samples, 20.2% were located in rural areas with less than 20,000 inhabitants; 47.4% in the urban areas and 32.4% in metropolitan areas. When using weights, this distribution is modified as follows: 48.7% in rural areas, 23.9% in urban areas and 27.4% in metropolitan areas. As far as we know, this survey has not been subjected to specific evaluation processes, hence we have checked into information and our interpretations with other available sources for Mexico.

Lastly, the ENFES was carried out by the Dirección General de Planificación of the Health Ministry, between February and March 1987. In the same way as the END all women between the ages of 15 and 49 years were eligible to participate. We have worked with the information for 9,310 women, who were distributed as follows in the unweighted sample: 37.3% in rural areas with less than 20,000 inhabitants; 37.1% in urban areas larger than 20,000; and 25.5% in metropolitan areas. When using weights, this distribution is modified as follows: 42.9% in rural areas, 27.6% in urban areas and 29.5% in metropolitan areas (for an evaluation of the information in the ENFES, see Echarri, 1989).

The main limitations of the three surveys have to do with the use of weights and with the limits on age of the eligible women in each case. This weights, mainly those used for the END, change the distribution of the population according to place of residency in a significant manner. Nevertheless, after the completion of various attempts to analyze the trends between 1982 and 1987, we considered that the results do not differ appreciably, as long as weighted or unweighted samples are used both in 1982 and 1987.

Referring to the age limit, the procedure applied in 1976 prevents us from considering the changes in the group of 15-19 years of age in that time, which represented 22% of the female labor force in 1970 and 17% in 1980, according to the respective population census. However, for the purposes of this specific analysis we considered the trends between 1976 and 1987 as more important, and so we have sacrificed that age group. In other studies that we are working on using the fertility surveys, we recover the age group of 15-19 for the only period in which it is possible to do so, this is, between 1982 and 1987.

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Table 1
LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES - MEN AND WOMEN

ANNUAL INCREMENTS

Years	1950	1970	1979	1982	1987
Rate (Women)	13	16	21	25	32
Annual Increase	1950-1970	1970-1979	1979-82	1982-1987
	1.1%	3.5%	6.3%	5.6%
Years	1950	1970	1979	1988
Rate (Men)	85.7	71.6	71.3	75.3
Annual Increase	1950-1970	1970-1979		1979-88
	-0.8%	-0.05%		0.62%

Source 1950 and 1970, Censos de Población; 1979 Encuesta Contínua de Ocupación; 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END); 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES).

Taken from García and Oliveira 1991.

Table 2
PERCENTAGE OF AGRICULTURAL WORKERS BY AGE, EDUCATION,

MARITAL STATUS, NUMBER AND AGE OF CHILDREN

(Women from 20 to 49 years of age, 1976, 1982,1987)

Year	1976	1982	1987
Total percentage	10.5	3.0	8.1
Age
20-34	7.3	3.2	8.0
35-49	15.5	2.5	8.2
Educational Attainment
Primary incomplete	20.1	8.4	20.5
Primary complete	0.7	1.8	2.1
Secondary complete	0.3	-	0.5
Preparatory and up	0.5	-	-
Marital Status
Single	2.7	0.8	2.1
Married	17.5	4.2	12.3
Divorced, widowed	5.2	3.1	4.0
Number and Age of Children
Without children	6.6	1.1	5.3
1-2 children less than 4	9.9	1.0	5.3
1-2 children, more than 4	15.1	2.6	5.3
3 children +, less than 4	24.2	14.4	20.6
3 children +, more than 4	18.8	1.7	10.8

Source: 1976, Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF); 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END), weighted sample; 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES), weighted sample.
Table 3
PERCENTAGE OF NONMANUAL WORKERS BY AGE, EDUCATION,

MARITAL STATUS , AND NUMBER AND AGES OF CHILDREN

(Women from 20 to 49 years of age, 1976, 1982 and 1987)

Year	1976	1982	1987
Total percentage	47.9	60.7	53.1
Age
20-34	51.9	63.2	53.1
35-49	41.6	55.2	49.5
Educational Attainment
Primary incomplete	22.1	23.6	20.4
Primary complete	54.4	49.9	43.8
Secondary complete	87.1	86.3	80.1
Preparatory & up	96.6	97.4	96.4
Marital Status
Single	57.2	70.9	68.2
Married	47.2	59.9	49.0
Divorced, widowed	33.8	47.6	39.7
Number and Age of Children
Without children	59.4	69.7	70.9
1-2 children less than 4	59.9	74.3	62.6
1-2 children, more than 4	59.1	61.5	53.0
3 children +, less than 4	35.2	47.7	28.5
3 children +, more than 4	45.5	52.4	47.9

Source: 1976, Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF); 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END), weighted sample; 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES), weighted sample.
Table 4
DISTRIBUTION OF FEMALE WORK FORCE BY EDUCATION

1976, 1982, 1987 (Women 20 to 49 years)

Educational Attainment	1976	1982	1987
Total number	1831	2386	2628
Primary incomplete	50.8	30.5	36.4
Primary complete	22.1	21.3	22.0
Secondary complete	15.7	36.7	24.6
Preparatory plus	11.4	11.4	16.9

Source: 1976, Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF); 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END), weighted sample; 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES), weighted sample.
Table 5
PERCENTAGE OF NONSALARIED MANUAL WORKERS BY AGE, EDUCATION

MARITAL STATUS AND NUMBER OF AGES OF CHILDREN

(Women from 20 to 49 years, 1976, 1982, 1987)

Year	1976	1982	1987
Total percentage	14.5	7.6	18.5
Age
20-34	10.8	5.3	15.7
35-49	20.4	12.8	24.0
Educational Attainment
Primary incomplete	22.6	19.4	35.5
Primary complete	10.6	4.5	17.5
Secondary complete	3.5	1.8	6.0
Preparatory and up	0.9	0.5	1.3
Marital Status
Single	4.3	2.7	6.0
Married	19.7	9.8	23.5
Divorced, widowed	17.9	9.5	24.2
Number and Age of Children
Without children	10.4	3.4	14.0
1-2 children less than 4	13.2	4.2	14.4
1-2 children, more than 4	17.2	5.5	7.6
3 children less than 4	25.5	11.1	35.2
3 children +, more than 4	21.0	17.2	26.2

Source: Source: 1976, Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF); 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END), weighted sample; 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES), weighted sample.
Table 6
PERCENTAGE OF SALARIED MANUAL WORKERS BY AGE, EDUCATION,

MARITAL STATUS, NUMBER AND AGES OF CHILDREN

(Women from 20 to 49 years, 1976, 1982 and 1987)

Year	1976	1982	1987
Total percentage	27.1	28.1	20.3
Age
20-34	30.3	28.2	21.3
35-49	22.4	27.9	18.3
Educational Attainment
Primary incomplete	35.2	47.2	23.6
Primary complete	34.2	43.4	36.6
Secondary complete	9.0	11.5	13.4
Preparatory and up	1.9	2.0	2.2
Marital Status
Single	35.4	25.3	23.8
Married	15.6	25.9	15.2
Divorced, widowed	42.8	37.7	32.2
Number and Age of Children
Without children	23.6	25.8	9.7
1-2 children less than 4	17.1	20.5	8.4
1-2 children, more than 4	8.6	29.7	24.2
3 children less than 4	15.2	26.6	15.6
3 children +, more than 4	14.3	28.1	15.2

Source: Source: 1976, Encuesta Mundial de Fecundidad (EMF); 1982 Encuesta Nacional Demográfica (END), weighted sample; 1987 Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud (ENFES), weighted sample.

[1]Virginia Levin was in charge of programming the information used in this paper; we thank her for her help.

[2] This general tendency has been documented in many studies. See, for example, De Riz, 1986; Cruz and Zenteno, 1987; Pacheco Gomez Muñoz, 1988; Cortés, 1988; Pedrero, 1989; Oliveira, 1989; González de la Rocha, 1989; Oliveira and García, 1990. For analysis about other Latin American countries and some developed countries, see Pantelides, 1976; Jelin, 1978; Standing, 1978; Terrazas Salina, 1979; Recchini de Lattes, 1983; Roos, 1985; Blau and Ferber, 1985; Anker and Hein, 1987.

[3] During the eighties, the proportion of women in the labor force in countries such as Australia, Canada, Germany, England and the United States reached around 60%. In Sweden this proportion was around 80% (McLanahan, Sorensen and Casper, 1992).

[4] The indicators of the economic recession that affected the country in the midst of the eighties are well known. From 1982 until 1986 product per capita fell 16% and real salary of the workers was in this last year only 65% of that in 1981. The Mexican currency was devaluated approximately forty times in these five years and inflation exceeded 100% in 1986 (Tello, 1987). If one adds here the deficiency in the social security system and the reduction of subsidies for basic goods, it is clear that in Mexico, as in other Latin American countries, a clear deterioration in the living standards of the population has taken place (Lustig, 1986; Casar and Ros, 1987). The figures indicate that a basic basket of food came to represent more than 50% of the minimum salary in 1986, in comparison with 30% in 1982 (Lustig, 1986).

[5] For an analysis of the conditional factors of female participation in the seventies see Kim (1987) and Rubin-Kurtzman (1991).

[6] The information on occupation from the END refers to 1981, the last year in which there was a clear economic expansion in the period analyzed.

[7] In this chapter, the terms "salaried" and "nonsalaried" will be used referring to different sectors of the Mexican labor market. As it is known, "salaried" occupations, unlike "informal" or "nonsalaried" ones, are registered and have some fringe benefits.

[8] The increase registered in 1987 does not appear to be the result of an improved registration of agricultural activities at this time. If one compares the questions and reference periods in the 1982 and 1987 surveys, it is more likely that women's economic participation was better registered in 1982, and even under these circumstances an increase was observed in 1987. However, it is also important to take into account a possible underestimation of the agricultural population in 1982, due to the sampling scheme used.

[9] Results for 16 metropolitan areas of Mexico also show a decrease in female participation in non manual activities from 1984 to 1987 (Oliveira, 1989).

[10] See, García, 1988; Salas and Rendón, 1989; Pedrero, 1989; Oliveira, 1989; Oliveira and García, 1990; Selby et al. 1990; Chant, 1991; González de la Rocha and Escobar, 1991.

[11] The figures for 1970 are from STPS/PREALC/PNUD (1975). Those for 1983 are from the Encuesta Nacional de Ingreso-Gasto and those for 1988 from the Encuesta Nacional de Empleo. The information presented includes the employers, besides the self-employed and the unpaid family workers. The data that does not include the employers also presents a rising tendency: 14.8% in 1979, 17.9% in 1983 and 21.4% in 1988.

[12] See Escobár Latapí, 1986; Tokman, 1987; Portes and Benton, 1987; Roberts, 1987; García, 1988; Portes, Castells and Benton 1989, among others.

[13] For an analysis of the participation of women in the maquiladora industry in Mexico, see Iglesias, 1985; Carrillo and Hernández, 1985; Barajas and Rodriguez, 1989.

[14] Data for Mexico City indicates that the day care centers of the federal and municipal governments take care of 60,000 children between the ages of 45 days old and 6 years. This figure represents less than 12% of the children of working mothers who are the potential users of day care center services (Tolbert, 1990).

[15] Additional information about the different stages covered by these surveys can be found in: Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales de la Universidad Autonoma de Mexico (ISUNAM) and the Secretaria de Programacion and Presupuesto (SPP), 1978; Consejo Nacional de Poblacion (CONAPO), 1982; Encuesta Nacional sobre Fecundidad y Salud, 1988 and 1988a.