Breastfeeding among women employed in Mexico's informal sector: strategies to overcome key barriers.

BACKGROUND: Rates of exclusive breastfeeding fall below recommended levels, particularly among women in paid employment. In Mexico, more than half of women are in informal employment, meaning they lack many of the protections that may support breastfeeding. METHODS: In-depth interviews with 15 key informants representing government agencies (n = 6 organizations), NGOs (n = 4), international organizations (n = 2), and academia (n = 2) in Mexico. Interviews were conducted between March and June 2023. To understand and describe barriers to breastfeeding among informally employed women in Mexico according to key informants and the current and potential policies to address these barriers, we conducted a qualitative thematic analysis. RESULTS: Current policies to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding predominantly apply to all employed women, but respondents expressed concern that they did not provide adequate protection for women in informal employment. Additional themes concerned the need for relevant programs to be institutionalized and coordinated, discussions of breastfeeding as a right, and the legal equivalence (whether true in practice or not) of formal and informal workers. CONCLUSIONS: Women employed in Mexico's informal sector face a dearth of maternity protections. According to key informants, few policies exist to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding among employed women, in general, but the economic vulnerability and challenging working conditions of women in informal employment exacerbates their situation. The lack of access to formal labor protections, such as paid maternity leave, creates a significant barrier to breastfeeding for women in the informal sector. Recommendations include short-term policies to fill gaps in social protection for informally employed women, as well as longer-term solutions such as the development of universal social protection programs and supporting formalization.

Informal Employment Under the Skin: Informality and Health Inequalities Among Chilean Workers.

Informal employment has been identified as an important social determinant of health. This article addresses the processes through which informal employment affects workers' health in Chile. The study's methodological approach was based on qualitative interviews with 34 formal and informal workers. The findings show how workers perceive informal employment as negatively affecting their mental and physical health through different dimensions of their living and working conditions. Incorporating a gender perspective proves to be integral to the analysis of these processes. The article concludes by discussing how neoliberalism underlies such vulnerability processes and negatively impacts on the population's health.

Determinantes do emprego secundário e informalidade: evidências adicionais para o mercado de trabalho brasileiro / Determinants of secondary employment and informality: additional evidence for the Brazilian labor market / Determinantes del empleo secundario e informalidad: evidencias adicionales para el mercado de trabajo brasileño

O objetivo deste estudo é analisar os fatores que determinam a escolha de um indivíduo por um emprego secundário e como tal decisão está relacionada com a informalidade. Para tanto, a partir dos dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) contínua, é estimado um modelo logit de efeitos aleatórios para verificar os fatores que influenciam nesta decisão de inserção. Os resultados apontam que o rendimento do trabalho principal, a escolaridade e a informalidade no emprego principal influenciam positivamente na decisão dos trabalhadores em ingressar em um emprego secundário.

This study aims to analyze the factors that determine an individual's choice of having secondary employment and how this decision is related to informality. To that end, based on data from "Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) contínua", we estimate a random effects Logit model to verify factors influencing this decision of insertion. Results indicate that the main work income, schooling and informality in the main employment have a positive influence on the worker's decision to seek secondary employment.

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar los factores que determinan la elección de un individuo de tener un empleo secundario y cómo esta decisión está relacionada con la informalidad. Para ello, a partir de los datos de la Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD) contínua, se estima un modelo logit de efectos aleatorios para verificar los factores que influyen en esta decisión de inserción laboral. Los resultados apuntan a que el rendimiento del trabajo principal, la escolaridad y la informalidad en el empleo principal influyen positivamente en la decisión de los trabajadores de obtener en un empleo secundario.

Informal employment, unpaid care work, and health status in Spanish-speaking Central American countries: a gender-based approach.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the relationship between paid work, family characteristics and health status in Central American workers; and to examine whether patterns of association differ by gender and informal or formal employment. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 8680 non-agricultural workers, based on the First Central American Survey of Working Conditions and Health (2011). Main explicative variables were paid working hours, marital status, caring for children, and caring for people with functional diversity or ill. Using Poisson regression models, adjusted prevalence ratios of poor self-perceived and mental health were calculated by sex and social security coverage (proxy of informal employment). RESULTS: A clear pattern of association was observed for women in informal employment who were previously married, had care responsibilities, long working hours, or part-time work for both self-perceived and mental health. No other patterns were found. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show health inequalities related to unpaid care work and paid work that depend on the interaction between gender and informal employment. To reduce these inequalities suitable policies should consider both the labor (increasing social security coverage) and domestic spheres (co-responsibility of care).

O negro no contexto das novas estratégias do capital: desemprego, precarização e informalidade / Black people in the context of the new strategies of the capital: unemployment, precariousness and informality

O presente artigo parte do entendimento de que apesar da crise e das transformações operadas no mundo do trabalho atingirem de modo geral a "classe‑que‑vive‑do‑trabalho", as novas estratégias de produção e subordinação do trabalho ao capital não afetam igualmente brancos e negros. Nesse sentido, o seu objetivo é debater a condição de desigualdade do negro no contexto das novas estratégias de produção e subordinação do trabalho ao capital. Trata‑se de identificar, por meio dos indicadores das desigualdades raciais, a desigualdade do trabalhador negro no mercado de trabalho brasileiro.

This paper Takes the view that despite the crisis and the transformations wrought in the work world in general reach the "class‑who‑livres‑of‑work", the new production strategies and subordination of labor to capital is not equally affect and blacks. In this sense, the goal is to discuss the condition of inequality in the black in the context of new production strategies an subordination of labor to capital. It is identified by the indicators of racial inequality, the inequality of black work.

Controle social, mundo do trabalho e as Conferências Nacionais de Saúde da virada do século XX / Social Control, work world and the National Conferences of Health at the turn of the 20th century

A prática do controle social no campo da saúde do trabalhador vem enfrentando as barreiras impostas pela globalização e pela reestruturação d(n)o mundo do trabalho, seja pelo enfraquecimento dos sindicatos de trabalhadores, seja pela ausência de representantes das várias categorias de trabalhadores sem vínculo formal de trabalho, pertencentes ao expressivo mercado informal/precarizado. Na virada do século XX, as grandes Conferências Nacionais de Saúde foram marcadas por contextos políticos com diferenças significativas, o que favoreceu a falta de articulação entre as bases representativas, que se ocupavam principalmente com as demandas fragmentadas e interesses particularistas. Refletir sobre como se configura a legítima representação das classes de trabalhadores, sejam elas pertencentes ao mercado formal ou informal/precarizado, faz-se necessário diante das evidências de que o arranjo atual vem impedindo o aprofundamento dos assuntos específicos da saúde do trabalhador.

The practice of social control in the field of the worker's health has been facing barriers imposed by the globalization and the restructuring in the work world, either because of the weakness of the workers' unions, or by the absence of representatives of the various workers categories without formal work bond, belonging to the expressive informal/precarious market. In the beginning of the 20th century, big National Conferences of Health were marked by political contexts with significant differences, favoring the lack of articulation among the representative bases that were engaged mainly in fragmented demands and particulars interests. To contemplate on as the legitimate representation of the workers' classes is configured, either belonging to the formal market, or informal/precarious, is necessary against the evidences that the current arrangement is impeding the deepening of the specific worker's health issues.