Zero Simulation: Women in Industry (Part I)

The conversation about gender equality in the economy is often approached from a social angle. However, in the context of nearshoring, the scarcity of specialized talent, and global industrial reconfiguration, the inclusion of women in the labor market has become a central issue for economic competitiveness. Mexico faces a structural paradox: while its economy seeks to consolidate itself as one of the leading manufacturing centers in the Western Hemisphere, a significant portion of its potential talent remains underutilized. According to estimates by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO), if the country were to incorporate 8.2 million women into the labor market by 2030, the Gross Domestic Product could grow by an additional 15%. In other words, the debate on female participation in the economy no longer belongs solely to the equality agenda: it has become a strategic discussion about growth, productivity, and industrial leadership.

“Women’s economic participation is not a matter of quotas; it is the country’s most untapped growth engine. If Mexico were to add 8.2 million women to the labor market by 2030, the impact on our economy would be equivalent to an additional 15% GDP growth, completely transforming our regional competitiveness.”

This report —divided into two parts— analyzes the current state of female participation in industry, the role of regional business ecosystems, and the opportunities opened by the relocation of production chains in Mexico.

National Overview: The Cost of the Gap

Globally, various studies agree that female economic participation remains well below its potential, despite regulatory advancements in equality. The World Bank’s “Women, Business and the Law 2026” report, which analyzes legal frameworks and conditions for economic participation in 190 economies, identifies a recurring problem: the distance between legal equality and operational reality. Although many legislations have incorporated principles of equality, institutional support systems and labor conditions continue to limit women’s full access to the labor market.

“There is a critical gap between what laws dictate and what happens on the factory floor. Globally, women enjoy only two-thirds of the legal rights of men; however, when we evaluate support frameworks and actual implementation, the figure drops drastically. Having an equality law is useless if companies lack the care infrastructure and justice mechanisms to enforce it.”

World Bank data reflect this structural gap. On average, the world’s economies achieve only a score of 67 out of 100 in legal equality, while support frameworks —such as childcare services, work-life balance policies, or institutional mechanisms— barely reach 47 points. This discrepancy explains why, despite decades of legal reforms, female participation in the labor market remains significantly lower than male participation in much of the world.

In the Mexican case, the situation reflects a similar pattern. According to recent data from INEGI and IMCO, the female economic participation rate hovers around 45.6% – 46%, a figure that has remained relatively stagnant over the last two decades. Currently, women represent 40.7% of the country’s employed population, within a labor force of nearly 59 million people. However, the gap becomes more evident when analyzing the sectoral structure.

Women in Industry: Progress with Structural Limits

In the industrial sector —particularly in manufacturing—, female presence has grown gradually in recent years. Today, women represent approximately 36.9% of the personnel employed in the Mexican manufacturing industry, a significant figure considering that this sector constitutes one of the country’s export drivers. On a global scale, however, the trend remains similar: women make up between 30% and 35% of the industrial workforce, according to estimates from the Global Gender Gap Report 2025 by the World Economic Forum.

The gap deepens in technical areas. In sectors linked to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), women represent barely 28.2% of the global workforce, while in advanced manufacturing, technical roles held by women are only around 20%. Mexico is no exception to this trend. Although 32% of university enrollment in engineering corresponds to women, only 14.3% fully integrate into the labor market within these areas. The result is a phenomenon known in labor analysis as “female technical talent drain”, where human capital trained in universities fails to translate into sustained participation within the industry.

The Glass Ceiling in Industry

Despite advancements at certain management levels, women continue to encounter structural barriers at the apex of corporate decision-making. In Mexico, for example, the country has managed to position itself among economies with higher female participation in senior management, with 40.5% presence in management positions, exceeding the global average. However, female representation drastically decreases in spaces of greater corporate power. As of the end of 2025:

• Only 14% of seats on boards of directors are occupied by women
• Barely 4% of general management positions in the private sector are led by women

This gap reflects what specialists call the “corporate glass ceiling,” a set of structural barriers —cultural, institutional, and organizational— that limit women’s access to the highest levels of business leadership. Globally, the trend is similar. Although women hold 41.2% of jobs across all industries, only 28.8% of senior management positions are held by women, and less than 30% of C-Suite executive positions.

The Care System: The Invisible Infrastructure of the Economy

One of the structural factors explaining these gaps is the lack of social infrastructure that allows for work-life balance. In practice, this translates into insufficient care systems, which disproportionately affect women’s professional trajectories. The World Bank identifies this point as one of the main obstacles to economic equality: without support policies that facilitate labor participation, legal equality loses effectiveness. Childcare facilities, flexible work schedules, balanced parental leave, and hybrid work models have become critical elements for business competitiveness in advanced economies. Without these mechanisms, the labor market loses skilled talent, potential productivity, and diversity in decision-making.

Nearshoring: A Historic Opportunity

The current context of global industrial reorganization presents an unprecedented scenario for Mexico. The relocation of production chains —known as nearshoring— is driving new manufacturing investments, particularly in the north of the country and in the Bajío industrial corridor. However, this growth faces a structural challenge: the scarcity of skilled talent. According to estimates by the International Labour Organization, 600 million young women will enter the global workforce over the next decade, which opens a strategic window for economies that manage to integrate this human capital.

“In a decade where 600 million young women will enter the global workforce, the Mexican industry faces a dilemma: either it professionalizes its environments to attract this technical talent, or it will succumb to the scarcity of skilled labor. Legal and operational equality is the missing link for the demographic dividend to translate into real economic progress.”

In this context, female participation not only represents an issue of equity but also a necessary condition to sustain the country’s industrial expansion. The next installment of this report will analyze the role of the business ecosystem, the interaction between universities and industry, and the cultural transformation that companies face in the context of nearshoring.

The post first appeared in Líder Empresarial.