Social welfare in Mexico

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Mexico offers social welfare assistance designed to meet needs of the Mexican population including assistance for low-income populations, women, youth, the elderly, and disabled individuals. Mexico has been offering social welfare since 1999. [1] Despite the fact that Mexico offers welfare to its citizens through various programs, the poverty level in Mexico is currently at 36.3%. [2]

Contents

For low-income families

In Mexico, the social welfare program for low-income families was originally known as "Oportunidades", meaning "opportunities". It was eventually renamed "Prospera", meaning "to prosper". [3] The program was established in 1997 and was designed to encourage families to send their children to school and health centres. Nearly six million families have benefited from this program. [3] The goal of the “Prospera” program is to improve the quality of life of the poor in terms of nutrition, education, and health. [3] The program is still available to date for Mexican citizens in need of assistance. [4] In particular, it is highlighted on the Mexican government website for people who are affected by natural disasters and other emergencies. [4]

Another program created to help low-income families was the FIDELIST. This program was created in 1984 and essentially subsidized the prices of corn tortillas. [5] It ran until 1990 when it was replaced by the Tortilla sin Costo, which provided subsidized or free tortillas for 2.1 million low-income families and equaled approximately 3% of Mexico’s total corn consumption. [5] However, the current tortillas program for low-income people in Mexico, as offered by the Mexican government, is to provide a two-year loan at 6% interest to set up a tortilla business; there are no 'free tortillas' for the poor. [6]

Socio-economic & Gender-based Disparities in Healthcare

Social welfare issues for women in Mexico often stem from disparities in accessing reproductive and general healthcare, resulting in women facing systematic violence. [7] [8] Women’s health care differs from general healthcare because of reproductive health factors inapplicable to male-born individuals. Therefore, gender-based variables along with barriers to universal healthcare make accessibility difficult particularly in the case of women (those who are female-born). These include ethnicity, economic status, and geographics. For instance, Indigenous women in Mexico face barriers to healthcare access (both general and reproductive) stemming from poverty, lack of education, and geographic isolation. Failing to adequately serve marginalized women sharing these characteristics reflects obstetric violence. [7] [9]

Along with lack of access as a form of discriminatory treatment, reproductive healthcare that is uneven in quality can lead to poor health outcomes for patients seeking maternal care. [8] Thus, inconsistent or complete lack of reproductive healthcare constitutes obstetric violence. For example, while abortion is legal in many Mexican states, there is an immediate need for support through social welfare programs for those seeking backdoor abortions or victims of forced sterilization mandates through policy reform. [9]

Filling the Gaps: Social Welfare Programs for Minority Women

For women, several programs exist, like the “Programa para el Adelanto, Bienestar e Igualdad de las Mujeres (PROABUM)", enhancing women’s rights through financial aid and other forms of support, with a particular focus on reproductive health, leadership development, empowerment, and institutional strengthening. [10]

Founded and supported by the Mexican federal government through INMUJERES, the program prioritizes low-income and marginalized women and offers prompt assistance to those in need of access to reproductive healthcare and support services. Through a network of Centros para el Desarrollo de las Mujeres (CDM) located in 11 towns in Mexico City, PROABIM provides services like healthcare access initiatives, economic empowerment programs, and legal consultation. These centers collaborate with local organizations to handle systemic issues, such as obstetric violence. Additionally, this program operates year-round and is evaluated on a regular basis through reports on its initiatives and results. This helps measure its impact and point out areas that need improvement. However, its accessibility for women from various socioeconomic backgrounds is still a crucial topic of evaluation. [10]

As outlined in their “objectives” and “themes” section of their program overview, the “Coinversión para el Bienestar de las Mujeres” program acknowledges the importance of recognizing relationships between ethnic/racial qualities and gender in creating barriers to equal social and economic opportunities. Based on these connections, their services are structured, focusing on strengthening pre-existing organizations and promoting their call for equality in fields such as healthcare. [11]

This program contributes to solving socio-economic and gender-based issues through financially advocating for organizations dedicated to confronting these challenges. Through funding, it prioritizes initiatives assisting young, adolescent, and elderly minority women. This also includes indigenous, LGBT+, and disabled women who are particularly susceptible to obstetric violence. For instance, it funds organizations focused on advancing public awareness of women’s reproductive rights and resources for approaching all forms of violence (including obstetric violence). On an institutional level, it supports organizations pushing for political reform that will ultimately make healthcare resources more easily accessible. [11]

Social welfare for children

Children in Mexico can also apply for social welfare, depending on their circumstances. One protection available to them is the DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia), which is a program for family services that are state-run. [12] Children can also benefit from the Prospera program (formerly known as Oportunidades) as mentioned above. According to a study by IFPRI, the International Food Policy Research Institute, Prospera has positively improved factors such as school enrollment, health appointment attendance, and children’s nutrition. [13] For example, enrollment in school for Prospera children has increased significantly, with girls increasing by 20% and boys increasing by 10%. [13] Some recent program advances have refocused assistance toward children in both rural and urban areas; originally, it was only set up to serve rural children. [13] Now, more children have access to this assistance. [13] Overall, the social welfare of children has been improved by these measures. [14]  

For the elderly and disabled

Other groups that are eligible to receive social welfare assistance in Mexico are the elderly and the disabled. The pension age in Mexico is 65 years. The amount given in the pension varies depending on how much the person contributed to the pension program. Pensions are usually 2,253.76 pesos a month. [15] People with disabilities are also given pensions. The average pension for a disabled individual is roughly 2,253.76 pesos a month. [15]

Prospera history

An evolution of the Oportunidades social welfare programme has, in its various forms, given conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to Mexico’s poorest since the 1990s. The scheme, originally called Pronasol in 1989, before being renamed Progresa in 1997 and Oportunidades in 2002, was the first major social programme of its kind in Latin America. The programme gave poor families cash in exchange for their meeting conditions such as enrolling their children in school and getting regular health check-ups. It went on to inspire other similar schemes across Latin America, including Brazil’s Bolsa Família – perhaps the most well-known and successful of them all. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social services</span> Range of public services

Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. They may be provided by individuals, private and independent organizations, or administered by a government agency. Social services are connected with the concept of welfare and the welfare state, as countries with large welfare programs often provide a wide range of social services. Social services are employed to address the wide range of needs of a society. Prior to industrialisation, the provision of social services was largely confined to private organisations and charities, with the extent of its coverage also limited. Social services are now generally regarded globally as a 'necessary function' of society and a mechanism through which governments may address societal issues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Welfare spending</span> Means-oriented social benefit

Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance programs which provide support only to those who have previously contributed, as opposed to social assistance programs which provide support on the basis of need alone. The International Labour Organization defines social security as covering support for those in old age, support for the maintenance of children, medical treatment, parental and sick leave, unemployment and disability benefits, and support for sufferers of occupational injury.

Welfare reforms are changes in the operation of a given welfare system aimed at improving the efficiency, equity and administration of government assistance programs. Reform programs may have a various aims, sometimes the focus is on reducing the number of individuals receiving government assistance and welfare system expenditure, at other times reforms may aim to ensure greater fairness, effectiveness and allocation of welfare for those in need. Classical liberals, libertarians, and conservatives generally argue that welfare and other tax-funded services reduce incentives to work, exacerbate the free-rider problem, and intensify poverty. On the other hand social democrats and socialists generally criticize welfare reforms that minimize the public safety net and strengthens the capitalist economic system. Welfare reform is constantly debated because of the varying opinions on a government's need to balance providing guaranteed welfare benefits and promoting self-sufficiency.

Social welfare, assistance for the ill or otherwise disabled and the old, has long been provided in Japan by both the government and private companies. Beginning in the 1920s, the Japanese government enacted a series of welfare programs, based mainly on European models, to provide medical care and financial support. During the post-war period, a comprehensive system of social security was gradually established. Universal health insurance and a pension system were established in 1960.

The Secretariat of Welfare is the government department in charge of social development efforts in Mexico. The Secretary of Welfare is a member of the Executive Cabinet, and is appointed at the discretion of the President of the Republic. The Secretariat of Welfare aims to eliminate poverty through comprehensive, collectively responsible human development, achieve adequate levels of well-being with adjustment to government policies, and improvement through social, economic and political factors in rural and urban areas to enhance local organization, city development and housing.

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. The government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. CCTs seek to help the current generation in poverty, as well as breaking the cycle of poverty for the next through the development of human capital. Conditional cash transfers could help reduce feminization of poverty.

Oportunidades is a government social assistance program in Mexico founded in 2002, based on a previous program called Solidaridad, created in 1988 and renamed Progresa in 1997. It is designed to target poverty by providing cash payments to families in exchange for regular school attendance, health clinic visits, and nutrition support. Oportunidades is credited with decreasing poverty and improving health and educational attainment in regions where it has been deployed. Key features of Oportunidades include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Healthcare in Mexico</span>

Healthcare in Mexico is a multifaceted system comprising public institutions overseen by government departments, private hospitals and clinics, and private physicians. It is distinguished by a unique amalgamation of coverage predominantly contingent upon individuals' employment statuses. Rooted in the Mexican constitution's principles, every Mexican citizen is entitled to cost-free access to healthcare and medication. This constitutional mandate was translated into reality through the auspices of the Instituto de Salud para el Bienestar, abbreviated as INSABI; however, INSABI was discontinued in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social programs in Canada</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Social programs in the United States</span>

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Frontera Women's Foundation (FWF) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization operating in El Paso, Texas, United States, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Frontera Women's Foundation states its goal is "promoting positive social change for women and girls along the border" and focuses its campaign on community service and issues of women's rights at the family, community, and organizational level. The FWF supports grassroots organizations on the U.S.–Mexico border. The region extends from Southern New Mexico, through El Paso County, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, to Brownsville, Texas. The Frontera Women's Foundation supports these organizations by providing grants to groups that support women and girls struggling with issues such as low socio-economic status, gender bias, and ethnic bias.

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References

  1. ↑ "BBC News - Crossing Continents - Mexico's welfare revolution". news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "Mexico decreases poverty rate". Coneval. 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Model from Mexico for the World". World Bank. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  4. 1 2 "Programa de Inclusión Social Prospera". www.gob.mx (in Spanish). Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  5. 1 2 Craig, Gundersen; Mara, Yanez; Constanza, Valdes; A., Kuhn, Betsey (2002). "A Comparison of Food Assistance Programs in Mexico and the United States". Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Report Number 6.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ "Mi Tortilla"
  7. 1 2 Armenta-Paulino, Nancy; Wehrmeister, Fernando C.; Arroyave, Luisa; Barros, Aluísio J. D.; Victora, Cesar G. (2022-01-01). "Ethnic inequalities in health intervention coverage among Mexican women at the individual and municipality levels". eClinicalMedicine. 43. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2021.101228. ISSN   2589-5370. PMC   8649218 . PMID   34927037.
  8. 1 2 Sesia, Paola M. (2020), Sesia, Paola M.; Gamlin, Jennie; Gibbon, Sahra; Berrio, Lina (eds.), "Naming, framing and shaming through obstetric violence: A critical approach to the judicialisation of maternal health rights violations in Mexico", Critical Medical Anthropology, Perspectives in and from Latin America, UCL Press, pp. 222–247, ISBN   978-1-78735-583-5 , retrieved 2024-11-29
  9. 1 2 Tamés, Regina (2019-12-31), "Chapter 4. The Invisible Violence Against Women in Mexico", Mexico's Human Rights Crisis, University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 86–104, retrieved 2024-12-09
  10. 1 2 México, Secretaria de las Mujeres de la Ciudad de. "Programa para el Adelanto, Bienestar e Igualdad de las Mujeres (PROABIM)". Secretaria de las Mujeres de la Ciudad de México (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  11. 1 2 México, Secretaria de las Mujeres de la Ciudad de. "Corresponsabilidad Social para Beneficio de las Mujeres". Secretaria de las Mujeres de la Ciudad de México (in Spanish). Retrieved 2024-12-03.
  12. ↑ "In Mexico, welfare programs for children, fall short - The Daily Texan". www.dailytexanonline.com. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Shanghai Poverty Conference" (PDF). World Bank.
  14. ↑ Giménez, Víctor; Ayvar-Campos, Francisco Javier; Navarro-Chávez, José César Lenin (2017-06-01). "Efficiency in the generation of social welfare in Mexico: A proposal in the presence of bad outputs". Omega. 69: 43–52. doi:10.1016/j.omega.2016.08.001. ISSN   0305-0483.
  15. 1 2 "Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2013 - Mexico". www.ssa.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-09.
  16. ↑ "Mexico rebrands flagship social welfare programme in bid to help working poor". Eye On Latin America. 26 September 2014. Retrieved 25 January 2018.
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