While many policymakers are struggling with whether to raise the age when seniors can begin to draw public pensions, the Mexican government is heading the opposite direction, phasing in a plan that lowers the pension age for women to 60.  This program extends the existing non-contributory pension system, which gives universal benefits regardless of time spent in paid employment.

The government has already begun to enroll women in the program, the Pensión Mujeres Bienestar, which will load 3,000 pesos (roughly $155 USD at current rates) onto a debit card every two weeks.  Women aged 63 and 64 and women 60-64 in indigenous and Afro-descended communities will begin receiving payments in 2025.  Starting in 2026, the remaining women aged 60-64 and above will receive payments starting in 2026.  At age 65, they will join the universal noncontributory pension system, in which all Mexicans aged 65 and older receive a biweekly pension of 6,000 pesos —  a policy that appears particularly beneficial for women and indigenous people.

Since 2020, the right to a pension has been enshrined in the Mexican constitution. The fact that this pension is noncontributory makes it a vehicle for recognizing women’s vast contributions of unpaid and informal labor to the Mexican economy.  Although the program imposes bureaucratic requirements such as presenting an official identification and proof of residency, it is not conditional or means-tested.  Anyone eligible may enroll until November 30.

On October 1, Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico’s first female president and vowed to uphold the legacy of her immensely popular predecessor Andrés Manuel López Obrador.  AMLO, as he’s known, stirred controversy with his populist agenda, including reforms to the judiciary and the National Guard, but left office with the highest approval rating of any president in Mexican history. If he were not constitutionally limited to a single six-year term, he surely would have run again and won.

In 2011, AMLO created a new party, Morena (formerly Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional), that now dominates Mexico’s political landscape.  He described his program of reforms as a “fourth transformation” following those of the independence movement, the mid-nineteenth-century liberal reforms, and the 1910 revolution.  Morena’s agenda has centered on anti-poverty programs such as cash transfers and increasing the federal minimum wage.  Sheinbaum has extended the means-tested grant program for families with school-aged children to a more generous universal program, named after the educator and early Mexican feminist Rita Cetina Gutiérrez.

The women’s pension program will cost an estimated 69.5 billion pesos per year by 2030, fueling concerns that Morena’s generous social programs will lead to economic and political instability.  Economists disagree about the implications of Morena’s pro-social spending — some argue that is has contributed substantially to economic growth, others caution that these policies will create budgetary pressures. Many academics see Morena’s popularity as a return to Mexico’s single-party authoritarian past.

Mexico’s revenue structure includes personal and corporate income taxes but also depends heavily on a 16% value-added tax (VAT). Offering people more discretionary income that can only be spend via officially issued debit cards ensures collection of this VAT that might otherwise be lost in informal transactions.  Although the VAT is a regressive form of taxation due to its flat rate, it is less susceptible to tax evasion than other taxes.

A self-described feminist with a PhD in energy engineering a commitment to fighting climate change, Sheinbaum campaigned on promises of ameliorating structural inequalities and gender violence.  In her inaugural address, she specified women’s “substantive equality” among the ten principles that would guide her policymaking.  As Nobel laureate Esther Duflo found in her study of a quite similar pension system (universal, noncontributory, available to women at age 60 and men at 65) introduced in post-apartheid South Africa, pensions for older women — particularly in poorer families — significantly improved nutrition for their grandchildren, especially girls.

 Lowering the age of the women’s pension reflects both of Sheinbaum’s policy priorities — putting money in the hands of those most likely to spend it locally — and political principles of supporting the most economically marginal.  

Artwork by Nancy Folbre
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