The Foreign Ministry is working for parity and a care society that benefits mothers

The Foreign Ministry is working for parity and a care society that benefits mothers

• As part of Mexico's feminist foreign policy, the Foreign Ministry is working to improve women's working conditions.

At a Mother's Day commemoration, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena Ibarra applauded the dedication and work of the more than 1,000 women and mothers who work at the Foreign Ministry.

Secretary Bárcena emphasized the effort involved for mothers who are balancing their professional careers with motherhood. "As mothers, women and grandmothers [...] we have had a hard time getting to where we are, that is the reality, because the world and our society isn't ready or able yet to accommodate motherhood and work [...] it is much more difficult for women to do our work, achieve our positions, because we have to deal with being mothers and also having to devote ourselves to the home," she said.

She noted that, as part of a feminist foreign policy, the Foreign Ministry is working for gender equality and to improve women's working conditions, and she expressed her support for mothers so that they are better able to balance work and home.

Secretary Bárcena stressed that advancing in the construction of a care society is a priority: "We women are responsible for providing care, but that is why society as a whole has to take charge of care, it cannot be done exclusively by women [...] society has to become a care society, where the State, schools and families are co-participants, and I believe that this is part of what we want to achieve," she remarked.

Accompanying the Secretary at the event were the Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry Workers' Union, Hortencia Navarro Gutiérrez; the head of the Administration and Finance Unit, Julieta González Méndez, and the Director General for the Foreign Service and Human Resources, Miguel Malfavón Andrade.