Pregnancy Test a Standard Practice for Female Job Seekers in Mexico

MEXICO CITY — When Aida Flores Rosales applied for a job as an economist at a Mexico City bank, she had to do more than show she was qualified: She had to prove she wasn’t pregnant.

The government says it’s illegal, and human rights groups call it an invasion of privacy. But pregnancy testing remains a common requirement in Mexico for women seeking jobs, whether in factories or executive suites.

Businesses claim the practice isn’t prohibited and is needed to safeguard female workers’ safety. They also say they need to protect themselves from the high cost of government-mandated maternity leave.

“For a large business, it’s probably easy to absorb that, but for a small or medium-sized business it isn’t so easy,” says Mercedes Martinez Barrera, legal director for the business group Coparmex.

Mexico isn’t the only Latin American nation where job candidates are asked to take pregnancy tests. In Colombia, the practice is illegal but is still common, especially at small businesses that often disregard labor codes. Such testing was legal in Brazil until May, when Congress outlawed it as part of a labor-code reform.

Few Mexican women complain about the testing. In a nation where help-wanted postings frequently specify the required age, sex, marital status and “appearance” of would-be applicants, workers are little accustomed to insisting on their privacy or their rights, and even less likely to sue or file a complaint with the government.

Some, like Flores Rosales, agree with the requirement.

When she applied for a bank economist position three years ago, she had to submit laboratory certification proving she wasn’t pregnant. She did so and was hired.

The testing requirement “seems normal to me,” she says. “It didn’t bother me. Why would they want to hire someone who within a few months won’t be able to work normally?”

Applicants often are reluctant to do anything that would undermine their chances of getting a job, especially because of the economic crisis that has sent unemployment soaring since 1995.

“There is a feeling of ‘I have work, therefore I am fortunate. They are doing me a favor by giving me a job,’ ” says Elena Tapia, president of Gender Equity, which has fought against pregnancy-testing requirements.

Tapia understands the reluctance to challenge potential employers. Four years ago, she applied for a job as a full-time sociology professor at a Mexico City university. For a part-time teacher, it was a big career move.

The application required that she present certification she wasn’t pregnant. She felt indignant and offended--but took the test. She got the job.

“You can’t protest because you would be destroying your chances,” she says.

Women’s groups contend pregnancy testing is illegal because Mexican law prohibits sex discrimination. Employers argue there is no specific prohibition and the law gives them the right to hire whomever they want.

All three major political parties have proposed laws that would more clearly prohibit pregnancy-testing requirements. But some of the proposals are tied to larger labor reform packages that may be difficult to pass.

The number of companies that require pregnancy testing is unknown. The practice is more common at assembly plants along the northern frontier--some U.S. owned--than elsewhere.

Mexico’s use of pregnancy tests has come under scrutiny in the United States largely because the countries are partners under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the trade bloc that also includes Canada.

Human Rights Watch and other U.S. groups filed a complaint in 1996 under NAFTA, claiming Mexico was failing to enforce its labor laws by allowing the assembly plants to conduct pregnancy tests and fire employees who become pregnant.

A U.S. investigation found evidence of sexual discrimination.

Irasema Garza, the U.S. Labor Department official who led the investigation, says meetings between labor officials of the two countries have led to great progress--a view rejected by Human Rights Watch.

Garza says Mexican officials now agree that their constitution prohibits pregnancy testing and that labor officials are educating female workers on their rights.

Mexican labor activists say the government’s position has always been that pregnancy testing is illegal, but it hasn’t cracked down on violators for fear of a backlash against female workers.

“The employer can simply adopt the position: ‘Perfect. I can’t request pregnancy tests. I simply won’t hire women,’ ” says Angelica Gonzalez Valencia, director of equity for the Mexican Labor Secretariat. “We have to look for solutions that don’t have those types of effects that are going to hurt women more.”

One reason employers insist on the tests is Mexico’s maternity-leave policy. Female employees are entitled to 12 weeks’ paid leave around the birth of their child. By comparison, U.S. law guarantees family leave, but it may be unpaid.

In Mexico, if a woman has been working for more than 30 weeks when the leave begins, Social Security covers the cost. If it’s less than 30 weeks, the employer has to pay.

“The business is going to have to pay for the period before and after the birth,” says Tomas Natividad Sanchez, a lawyer who advises firms on labor issues. “Young women have the right to get pregnant, but obviously they don’t have the right to make someone else pay for it.”

Martinez Barrera, of the Coparmex business group, says the testing is also needed so employers can protect women from work that could endanger a fetus. She disagrees with the argument of women’s groups that women should decide for themselves what they can and cannot do.

“You can decide to take a physical risk,” she says, “but I don’t need to make myself an accomplice.”