Unpaid care work in Mexico, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico): Caring for children, older adults, people with disabilities or illnesses does not stop at the end of the workday and cannot be postponed. Someone must prepare meals, accompany people to medical appointments, help them take medication, meet basic needs and provide companionship.
In millions of Mexican households, these tasks fall mainly on women, who perform them without pay and whose work allows others to study, work and carry on with daily life. In Mexico, three out of four people who provide care are women.
The 2022 National Survey for the Care System (ENASIC), conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi), estimated that 31.7 million people aged 15 and older cared for members of their own or other households. Of that total, 75.1 percent were women and 24.9 percent were men.
The survey also showed the time this responsibility demands. Women identified as primary caregivers devoted an average of 38.9 hours a week to these tasks, compared with 30.6 hours for men in the same situation.
For many people, caregiving organizes much of their days and reduces the time available to study, work, rest or attend to their own health.
Inegi estimated that in 2022 there were 58.3 million people who could receive care in households, including children and adolescents, older adults, and people with disabilities or dependence. Of that group, 64.5 percent received care from someone in their own or another household.
What would happen if those who currently perform this work stopped? The needs would not disappear.
Children would still need supervision and attention; sick people would require support for their activities and treatments, and many older or disabled people would need help eating, moving or carrying out everyday tasks. Without a network to take on these responsibilities, families would have to reorganize their activities, and those who need support could go without the care they require.
UN Women has warned that care is essential for the functioning of families, communities and economies. In an explanation of unpaid work, the agency states that if women stopped performing it, communities would be paralyzed and economies would face a crisis.
Their contribution also carries significant economic weight. The Satellite Account of Unpaid Household Work in Mexico, prepared by Inegi with 2024 data, calculated that domestic and care work had a value of eight trillion pesos, equivalent to 23.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Women contributed 72.6 percent of that value. The calculation includes domestic and care activities.
However, the fact that this work is indispensable does not mean it must always fall on the same people. Overload can reduce women’s opportunities to earn income, continue their studies, develop a professional career or have time for their own well-being.
The problem is not caregiving itself, but that the responsibility is distributed unequally and without sufficient support services.
For this reason, UN Women Mexico launched the #SonCuidados campaign in October 2026, which calls for recognizing, reducing and sharing these tasks among women and men, families, communities, companies and the State. The initiative calls for valuing care and guaranteeing protection and decent conditions for those who provide it.
The debate includes expanding services for children, older people, and those living with disabilities or dependence, as well as improving conditions for professionals who work in the sector and supporting those who care without pay. Within the framework of the International Day of Caregivers, the discussion underscores that everyone needs care at some point in life and that many will also provide it.
Recognizing those who perform this work means understanding that their contribution does not stop at the home; it allows society to function and other people to develop. Caring is a shared responsibility, not an obligation exclusive to women.
