Breathe
By Regina Reyes-Heroles C.
Women's assets and wealth are correlated to the time they invest in the labor market. But what happens when you add the 'care' factor to this equation?
They often cannot put in the same amount of hours in the labor market because they have to take care of their children.
For many, caregiving can be the possibility of blurring gaps. The salary gap, for example, which hurts us so much, is related to the ability to be present, to grow, to put in the hours and to build human capital. And I would like to invite you to reflect on this gap.
What is human capital?
In any person's professional career there is value in his or her human capital.
Human capital is, according to McKinsey's definition, "the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes" of an individual.
We build this human capital from childhood, in school and in working life. "The value of human capital is realized when people put it into practice - that is, when they gain work experience - and pay is an important indicator of that value," says McKinsey in its study Though trade-offs: How time and career choices shape the gender pay gap.
If women work less or have less work experience, there is less human capital building and therefore lower pay. For McKinsey, there is a relationship between the decisions we make in our professional lives and the impact on the pay gap.
The labor market and women
Women have a longer life expectancy than men. We could work longer years and longer hours.
Women care more. Those hours of care take away from our working hours.
Women have more entries and exits from the labor market; many times, these are related to the issue of care.
Women earn less. The wage gap exists, plus we earn less because we work in more informal or part-time formats.
Women save less. It is more complex to save when we work less in remunerated activities.
Women are more precarious. This is the end result of all of the above.
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