Although the country had recognized the existence of and contributions made by indigenous peoples in the construction of the country, it was only with the 1992 Constitution that the nation was deemed pluri-cultural. In one example in Cuetzalán, Puebla state, members of the local Maseual people carried out peaceful protests from November 2016 to October 2017 against the failure of authorities to obtain their free, prior and informed consent to the planned construction of electric infrastructure. In the context of the indigenous wage gap, it could be that while human capital characteristics and informality () influence individuals’ wages (), a part of these effects can be ascribed to an indirect and unobservable influence such as labor-market discrimination (ℤ): indigenous peoples may face discrimination when looking for a job, which in turn affects their work experience and skills, making them less likely to find higher-paying employment.
Thus, in addition to Melly’s (2006) conditional quantile regression decomposition, this study will employ a more novel procedure proposed by Firpo, Fortin, and Lemieux (2009) to estimate a detailed unconditional quantile decomposition of the ethnic wage gap in Mexico.
of those who speak an indigenous language live in, predominant language spoken by indigenous people, More recent data, from 2015, found that of the 25.7 million self-identifying as indigenous, only a minority (around 7.4 million) spoke indigenous languages. Capab., 11: 449–465. In the context of his 2017 visit to Mexico, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Michel Forst drew particular attention to the situation of indigenous land and environmental activists in the context of extractive, energy and infrastructure megaprojects, calling them ‘one of the most criminalized groups of defenders, facing most court proceedings and arbitrary detentions in Mexico’ and expressing dismay at ‘the number of on-going conflicts that are the direct consequences of the lack or misuse of consultations processes with indigenous communities’. An additional reason for the ethnic gap in labor earnings could be due to Mexico’s informal employment sector. Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates.
In that year, only half of those who identified as indigenous actually spoke an indigenous language and of those who did, 84 per cent also spoke Spanish. , Chiapas, around 5,000 members of the Tzotzil ethnic group were forcibly displaced in October 2017 after one of their community members was killed; the violence was linked to an ongoing territorial dispute over land and forest resources with a neighbouring community, . Other indigenous activists targeted and killed in recent years included Huichol (Wixárika) brothers Miguel and Agostín Vázquez Torres, killed in Jalisco state in May 2017 after fighting encroachment on their community’s lands by cattle ranchers. Yet, the size of the locality does not affect the non-indigenous population as much as it affects indigenous workers. Social Stratification in Mexico: Disentangling Color, Ethnicity, and Class. The most predominant language spoken by indigenous people is Náhuatl, followed by Maya, Tzeltal, Mixteco, Tzotzil, Zapoteco and Otomí. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-005-1098-5. The Government should take decisive steps to show its real commitment to fulfil the rights of indigenous peoples. Profile . /Subtype/Image 2009). which means taking into account at least the following four essential elements: (a) A political and territorial base;
2011; Yun 2004). The concentration of poverty among indigenous populations is increasingly being recognized in the development literature (Garcia-Aracil and Winter 2006; Liberato et al. This often resulted in new forms of deprivation as indigenous residents of cities found themselves pushed to the social margins, often in very poor living conditions: a 2010 study by UN-Habitat found that in Mexico City, while 16.4 per cent of all houses had only one room, 34.3 per cent of indigenous households fell into this category. Inst. Melly, B. This impunity encourages the paramilitary groups to carry on with their activities. This paper contributes to the existing literature on the ethnic wage gap in Mexico by examining pay disparities between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples across the wage distribution using two novel quantile decomposition techniques. “I am inspired by your strength and determination in continuing to defend your rights and those of others,” she said, thanking all those who had received her in their territories and or travelled long distances to share their stories. Finally, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous populations could also be explained by an unobservable indirect effect such as labor-market discrimination (Oaxaca and Ransom 1994). J. Hum. However, many indigenous organizations, ranging from small community-based groups to national bodies, also formed to fight for better living conditions for this population. Am. Brazilian Rev. The government moved to erode the rights of indigenous peoples to communal lands, further exacerbated by the implementation of NAFTA. 1976. Third, indigenous women experience a “double” wage penalty in the Mexican labor force. Results show Heckman Correction estimates and bootstrapped standard errors with 50 replications. Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero; 5. Such disparities persist even after controlling for income-related variables such as education, work experience, geographic location and land assets (Hisamatsu and Ukeda 2002). 169) concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; 2. /Length 50456 A sub-grant programme to support for CSOs in MENA, South Asia and Southeast Asia working to address the situation minorities face in the context of COVID-19. Santiago, Chile. 2015. It is important to note that the model presented in this analysis adopts reference categories for the state, locality size, and occupation categorical variables included in the analysis. 12–27. Finally, occupational controls have been incorporated for twenty employment categories, according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) (INEGI 2018).3 Additionally, controls are added for gender and the total number of hours worked per week. were reorganizing themselves. There appears to be a consensus in the empirical literature that there is more informing the ethnic wage gap in Mexico than potential differences in observable human capital, occupation, and demographic characteristics. 5In 2012, the Mexican Parliament unanimously passed a “Federal Law to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination” (LFPED, in Spanish) that states that any distinction made against employees based on race, nationality, sex, age, disability, religion, migratory condition, health, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation or social status is strictly prohibited. This situation necessitates decomposition techniques to measure whether unobservable indirect effects can explain part of the ethnic wage gap in Mexico, once differences in observable demographic, human capital, and occupational characteristics (endowments) have been accounted for. In 1996 the EZLN and Mexican government officials negotiated and signed the San Andres Accords, which guarantee land rights, regional autonomy and cultural rights for indigenous peoples. also contributed to increased migration by indigenous peoples to Mexico’s urban centres. Mixtec and other indigenous migrant workers in Chiapas and Oaxaca are at risk of trafficking and forced labour, tomato, cucumber and chilli pepper farms and maize and potato harvesting –. The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. After the initial fighting, the government declared a ceasefire, promised to address rebel concerns and released prisoners. hands of paramilitary groups, and should put an end to the impunity that prevails in areas Elvia Rosa Martínez Medrano* When this border was created, Indigenous peoples of the region were divided, including the Yaqui, O’odham, Cocopah, Kumeyaay, Pai, Apache, and Kickapoo. 2017. On average, Mexico’s indigenous peoples earn 45.5 percent less than the non-indigenous population (see Figure 1).