*Daniela S. Valencia / Director of Vibrante
Originally published in the Mexican newspaper Animal Político on 15 May 2025.
As a migrant mother, I knew that one of the highest costs I would pay when my baby was born was mothering without the support of my extended family network. But living in Spain in January 2023 turned out to be a stroke of luck: thanks to the 2019 reform, my husband was entitled to a parental leave identical to mine. Those 16 weeks were essential for us to survive the chaos of first-time parenthood, and for me to recover more easily from childbirth—thanks to the loving care he gave both Esteban and me.
That’s why my heart skipped a beat when I heard about the recent ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) in Mexico, which establishes legal precedent to ensure that paternity leave becomes equivalent to maternity leave—currently set at 12 weeks.
Welcoming a new child into a household, whether by birth or adoption, dramatically reshapes family dynamics due to the sudden overload of care responsibilities. Equal parental leave is a key public policy not only for tackling workplace discrimination against women, but also for promoting caring masculinities and secure attachment with children from the start—helping to heal the wound of the “absent father”, which has left a lasting mark on our popular culture.
This decision by the SCJN marks a historic milestone and accelerates the urgent need for legislative debate to establish a regulatory framework that guarantees these labour rights for all workers—without requiring a court ruling in each case. Let’s not forget: since 2024, a Senate vote to expand paid paternity leave from 5 to 20 days has remained stalled.
The Way Forward
As this long-overdue debate (hopefully) moves forward, it’s crucial to focus on three essential elements that would make parental leave both well-designed and truly transformative:
1. Full equality in duration
Even if implemented progressively, this must be the non-negotiable goal. This would allow us to shift from “maternity and paternity leave” to “parental leave” or “birth and adoption leave”, as it’s called in Spain. The symbolism matters. These terms are more inclusive, acknowledging diverse family models beyond the heteronormative norm, and reframing the leave not just as a right of parents—but as a right of children to be cared for from birth.
2. Mandatory use (at least partially)
This would challenge the toxic “always available employee” culture—an unsustainable, masculinised norm that penalises women in the labour market, whether we become mothers or not. Because of existing power imbalances between employers and workers, mandatory use prevents employers from pressuring workers to give up this right.
Also, while not all of us are—or will be—parents, we were all babies once, completely dependent on care to survive. A society that puts care at the centre must reflect this truth in its labour standards.
3. Non-transferability between parents or adoptive caregivers
Experiences from countries like Germany, Sweden, and Iceland show that when part of parental leave is transferable, gender roles tend to kick in: fathers often hand over their weeks to mothers.
The common counterargument is the “right of every family to choose what works best for them”. But feminist research has long revealed that in a patriarchal system, “free choice” is not neutral—expectations placed on women and men are not the same.
Cost vs. Impact
Another objection raised is the supposed “cost” of granting fathers the same right to care. But inequality is far more expensive. Women make up half the workforce, and the barriers to our professional growth affect society as a whole. Expecting equality in the public sphere, while demanding no equality in the private one, is simply incoherent.
We must collectively demand that workers receive 100% salary coverage during parental leave, or at least that the majority of the cost be covered by the State. This would ease the financial burden on companies—especially small and medium-sized businesses—so they can adapt to the new reality.
But in Mexico, where 54% of employment remains informal (INEGI, 2024), the challenge is twofold. These advances in the right to care must be supported by progressive fiscal policies and labour reforms that pave the way toward a robust welfare state.
Of course, the fight for full equality in parental leave must go hand in hand with the goal of extending it to at least the first six months of life, to support those who wish to practise exclusive breastfeeding.
A Regional Opportunity
This SCJN decision gives Mexico the opportunity to become a regional leader in care policies across Latin America. We cannot afford to let it pass.
👉 A just Mexico is one where care is shared equally.
Vibrante is about communication with values.
If your company has implemented an equality plan that includes parental leave or similar care measures, we can help you communicate it—internally and externally—with impact and coherence.
We also support grassroots groups that advocate for care policies. In Spain, we advised the Platform for Equal Birth and Adoption Leave (PIINA) for three years.
🎙️ We are specialists in storytelling for social change.