The second chance of a Mexican biologist who was not allowed to reconcile work and family life

Nancy Yáñez Corrales is 44 years old and is originally from Morelos, Mexico. She is a biologist graduated from the Metropolitan University of Xochimilco, with a Master of Science in Conservation and Use of Natural Resources; But all this was not enough for Nancy to be able to pursue her career without suffering gender discrimination.

When Nancy managed to get a great job opportunity, her son was also born, a fact that made her ask her employers to work an eight-hour shift, so that she could leave earlier and thus also be able to exercise her role as a mother. Her bosses rejected her proposal, so she began labor agony, until she decided to resign. That trance marked her, but it also led her to look for a second chance.

“It was very complicated. In the end I got advice, and they told me to continue working and firm in my position, because what I was asking for was not a crime. Finally, the personnel cuts came and there they recategorized my case, and I decided to go with my severance pay to work on my own,” Nancy told UN News.

After leaving that position, Nancy began working in her husband’s consultancy dedicated to the conservation of protected natural areas, which led her to become involved in social and environmental issues in her community. In this way, she began to learn about all the problems that exist in certain areas of Mexico, and that motivated her to look for organizations that could support her.

For her, asserting her work and professionalism has not been easy. A first obstacle that she had to overcome was the belief that studying was not for womensince the care work that is done in the home falls on them, which often increases the probability that they will not finish their degree or will not practice after graduating.

Later, already exercising her career as a biologist, many times in the communities they did not take seriously what she said as a woman, unlike what her male colleagues said.

And a new life came

Today Nancy is one of the graduates of the Second Chance program, which emerged in 2018 from the alliance between UN Women and the Danone Group, and which is focused on the economic empowerment of women and the economic reactivation of the communities affected by the 2017 earthquakes, in Mexico City and Juchitán de Zaragoza, in the state of Oaxaca, through through innovative businesses.

From there, Nancy began to support the women of her community in the search for marketing channels for a wide variety of products, linking conservation and handicrafts with biocultural criteria that are contemplated in the elaboration of these articles.

Nancy tells UN News that little by little more women who had accumulated products from the pandemic approached her, so she activated a support initiative through social networks, with family and friends.

It was then that an opportunity came to her from the town of Ensenada, in Baja California, where a hotel asked her for a large number of handcrafted products, motivating her to continue working together with all the women of the community that she had met.

Currently, Nancy, together with the network of artisan women, distributes more than 100 products including coffee, mezcal, hand-woven bags, and all items related to the loom, such as napkins, bedspreads, curtains, sheets, and shirts. Her work is sold throughout Mexico, mainly in the states of Yucatán, Chiapas, Baja California, Coahuila, Mazatlán, State of Mexico, and Mexico City.

“It was something encouraging, when I made their payment to the women they told me that they were working day and night, and that moved me a lot because without thinking about it, focused on the forest projects, I can do something else” for us and for the community Nancy said.

Nancy Yanez Corrales

Nancy Yáñez works, among other things, for the conservation of protected natural areas.

Urgent gender parity in Mexico

In Mexico and in the world, various efforts have been made to achieve gender equality; however, women continue to have less participation in public and private life. Compared to men, there are fewer women in leadership positions and they have fewer opportunities in the labor market.

According to UN Women, this is due to the lack of opportunities for women and to different factors such as: discriminatory laws and practices, gender stereotypes, unequal access to education, violence against women and girls. , the marriages of girls and adolescents, and the lack of their own income or control over them, among others.

According to figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in 2019, the participation rate of women in the labor market in Mexico is 45%, compared to 77% of men.

In addition, of the 4.7 million people over 15 years of age who are illiterate, more than 61% are women. This leaves them in a situation of vulnerability in the labor market, and salary gaps that reach up to 35%.

Given these numbers, UN Women created the “Second Chance” program, with the aim of complying with the 2030 Agenda and impacting the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Sustainable Development Goals number 4, on inclusive and quality education, the number 5, on gender equality and the empowerment of women, and number 8 on the promotion of full employment and decent work.