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1. Infant Mortality Rates and Birth Outcomes

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1. Infant Mortality Rates and Birth Outcomes

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Infant mortality rate: total: 11.9 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 13.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 10.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.)

According to the Federal Reserve Economic Data website, the infant mortality rate in Mexico has dropped significantly over the past 50 years. In 1965, the rate was 87.6. In 2015, the rate dropped down to 11.3.
Mexican-born English-speaking mothers had lower rates of low birth-weight outcomes than do Spanish-speaking mothers.
Mexico-born Mexican-Americans had faster rates of fetal growth for some measures (i.e., term-moderately low birth weight and child body mass index)
I believe the infant mortality and poor birth outcomes rate among low wage workers and families in poverty could be higher due to the fact the majority of them do not qualify for maternity leave, causing them to be overworked and not taking proper care of themselves.
The significant decrease in the infant mortality rate has been attributed to a selection of highly cost-effective interventions bridging clinics and homes, high level of coverage of public health interventions, significant association to the investments in women education, social protection, water, sanitation, leadership and continuity of public health policies and investments on institutions and human resources.

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Access to early childhood education became a priority for Mexican policymakers over the past decade, with attendance rates of 3 and 4-year-olds in particular rising sharply since then.
Mexico's 2002 Law of Obligatory Pre-Schooling made it mandatory for the State to provide free preschool institutions and required obligatory attendance for children age 3 and up. Educational enrollment of 4-year-olds reached 89% in 2015, above the worldwide average, compared to 2005's statistic of 69%. Attendance rates of 3-year-olds in is below the average, however, Mexico has nearly doubled its number of 3-year-olds in pre-primary education since 2005, having reached an enrollment rate of 40% in 2014.
The Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) provides day care centers that provide food and education to children 45 days to 4-years-old for working parents or legal guardians who are affiliated with the IMSS. These child care centers utilize a curriculum governed by Mexico's Ministry of Education, and generally have positive child-staff ratios, the average statistic being 21 students per teacher.
In 2014, Mexico spent 0.6% of its Gross Domestic Product on early childhood educational institutions, but with public funds making up about 84% of the coverage of these institutions.

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In 2012, the income of the top 10% was 30.5 times greater than that of the bottom 10%.

In 2014,  55.3 million Mexican children, men and women live below poverty line with a population of 120 million.

MEXICO'S RESPONSE:
The anti-poverty programme Oportunidades has helped to improve income distribution slightly by raising incomes among the poorest households. However, variations in income distribution have not been statistically relevant.

Oportunidades was launched in 1997 with the over-arching goal of breaking the inter-generational transmission of poverty, developing basic capacities among families living in poverty and supporting them in their access to basic social goods & services.
Initially there were three components:  1. Educational transfers (scholarships) promote the completion of primary/secondary studies among children & young people, especially girls in rural areas that tend to abandon school earlier.  2. Health transfers encourage families to use existing healthcare facilities.  3. Transfers and other types of support to improve food consumption and nutritional conditions of poor families.  Additional components have since been added:  Food subsidy delivered monthly to compensate for increase in food prices, Energy subsidy, Pension for family members aged 70 and above, and Youth with Opportunities education grant to encourage young people to complete high school before the age of 22.

Wealth Distribution also relates to the family leave policy for maternity and paternity leave.  Approximately 60% of employees are ineligible for the maternity/paternity leaves because they participate in the informal economy so they do not qualify for social security, which makes them ineligible for these leaves.  Inability to access these benefits can cause a financial hardship for growing families, and therefore can increase wealth inequality.

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Mexico achieved its independence in 1821 and has been formed as a republic ever since. Mexico has had several constitutions since 1821, until its present constitution was adopted in 1917. A key principle in this consitituton is Article 83. This states that a President can only serve one term of six years. This is beneficial because it prevents one person from having long term rule.

The President is the head of the state and government, as well as the commander and chief of the Mexican military forces. The President also has the power to appoint the Cabinet and other officers. The President is responsible to enforce the law and has the power to veto bills. The President is elected for six years and can only serve one term. The current President of Mexico is Enrique Peña Nieto and the next election will take place in 2018. In Mexico, there is no Vice President position.

The Mexican Legislature is the bicameral Congress of the Union, which is composed of the lower house- the Chamber of Depuities and the upper house- the Senate of the Republic. The Congress creates federal laws, declares war, imposes taxes, approves the national budget, and handles international treaties.

The head of the Mexican Judiciary system is the Supreme Court of Justice. The court is comprised of 11 members who are nominated by the President and must be approved by two-thirds of the Senate.

There are three major political parties in Mexico:

-The Institutional Revolutuinary Party (PRI)

- The National Action Party (PAN)

- The Party of theDemocratic Revolution (PRD)

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We all have those sick days (weeks, months) where we literally cannot even get out of bed. Well, if you're in Mexico, you'd better have chosen a job with plenty of benefits. One of those benefits being paid sick leave. "The law does not expressly provide for entitlements to unpaid time off. However, the employer can grant special unpaid time off at his/her own expense." (Thomson Reuters Practical Law)
If you happen to get paid sick leave for a temporary disability, then you are entitled to a maximum of 52 weeks of leave, which can be extended by another 52 weeks. For permanent disabilities, employees are entitled to a permanentleave certified and fully paid for by the Social Security Institute. The first three days of sick leave certified by the Social Security Institute pays either:

60% of the employees salary if sick leave is due to a non-work related illness or accident.

100% of the employees salary if the sick leave is due to a work-related illness or accident.

In addition, the Social Security Institute runs primary health care units and hospitals. The quality of these facilities varies quite a bit: Not all are well equipped as many private hospitals, and staff mostly speak Spanish.
There is also a healthcare program called Seguro Popular (Popular Health Insurance). This program was designed to make various preventative treatments affordable for the less fortunat. Since this program started, 50 million previously uninsured people have benefitted from it.
On top of that, vaccinations/preventative drugs are widely available. Malaria is dropping at a steady but significant rate over the past decade, and tuberculosis mortality is also on a downward trend.
As you can see, the healthcare systems in Mexico are okay (the Seguro Popular being a great program in the midst). Finding a job with paid sick leave is a huge benefit.

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In 2016, Mexico had a gender wage gap of about 16.5% (meaning females are receiving 16.5% less pay than what men are receiving).This means that women were paid less for doing the same job men were doing. Gender pay gap has been reportedly correlated with maternity and parental leave. So, depending on how the company operates, or depending on certain laws placed, an employer can determine whether you have a paid or unpaid maternity leave.
The policy for maternity leave in Mexico is fair, giving pregnant women going into childbirth an oppotunity to care for their newborn child. What you must do, is you'll need to inform your employer the moment you realize signs of pregnancy (earlier on). You have 12 weeks maternity leave; 6 weeks before childbirth and 6 weeks after, paid normal wage. If you want to extend your maternity leave, you can do so for another 6 weeks, but your pay will be cut in half. Here is the first sign where females may not get an equal amount as their male counterparts. But this is to assume that many new mothers have chosen to take the extension. Also, from a business standpoint, it's not criminal to make the extension half pay.
There are also benefits for new mothers coming back into the workforce in which they are entitled to two paid breaks a day of 30 minutes each to breastfeed their child.
Paternity leave is also fair, in which a new father is allowed 7 days (a week) leave time, whilst being paid normal wage.
The one thing that the law does not require in Mexico is parental leave. The law does not require that parents with minor children or workers with other family resposibilities be provided with flexible time or part time work options. Not only that, the worker is not paid during parenral leave, which is fairly awful as anything could happen to your child, and the amount of time you'll need to stay home can vary depending on the incident. If a parent had to care for a child for 3 weeks, they would not be paid and could potentially lose their job.
There is a small correlation between maternity leave and gender pay gap, in the sense that females are, so far, the only human species that become pregnant/birth children whilst men do not; meaning that women have less days of work compared to men. There may be a case that the mother needs more times than the 12 given and 6 extended weeks, in which an employer cannot give. Women may need to switch jobs around in such case, getting part-time jobs instead of full time so they can care for their infants. I can see how parental leave might cause some affects, but again, that is assuming that only females will take the parental leave and not males. There are also other factors contributing to the gender pay gap; sexism, prejudice, stereotyping, and positions that are more available.

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1.  INFANT MORTALITY RATE:
Infant mortality rate: total: 5.8 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 6.3 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births
Given the data, Mexico's infant mortality rate is much higher than the U.S.

2. CHILDCARE & PRESCHOOL ACCESS:
Mexico's overall percentage of 3 to 4-year-olds enroled in preschool was 66% as of 2014, compared to the United States' percentage of 55%.

3. WEALTH DISTRIBUTION: In 2016, the income of the top 10% was more than 9 times greater than that of the bottom 10% in the U.S., vs. Mexico's top 10% was 30.5 times greater than the bottom 10%.

4. POLITICAL SYSTEM: Both Mexico and the U.S. are Republics.

5.  HEALTHCARE:
"The U.S.A [also] does not require that employees have access to paid sick days to address their own short-term illnesses or the short-term illnesses of a family member. The U.S does guarentee unpaid leave for serious illnesses through the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)" (United States Department of Labor)
Generally speaking, both Mexico and the U.S have the same concepts reguarding sick leave and health care.

6.  GENDER PAY GAP:
In America, you're given 6 weeks off, fully paid, and 2.8 weeks of benefits in term of a fullrate wage equivalent. While Mexico has it that you are fully paid for 12 weeks, and if you need an extension, you have 6 weeks with half pay. Also, men get 18.7% more than women in America, while in Mexico, men get 16.5% more. (Not a huge difference, but still better.)

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Recommendations For Improving or Developing U.S. Family Leave Policy

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Recommendations For Improving or Developing U.S. Family Leave Policy

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1.  Increase coverage/funding of Family Leave and Disability. It would ease the added stress and burden of financial worries for growing families, as well as those with members that are ill/disabled.  Funding for these increases could come from the wealthy.   As we see in the graph below:  the wealth distribution to the top 0.1% is dramatically unequal, and I believe sharing with the bottom 90% would benefit our country.  If taxing just the EXTREMELY wealthy is disagreeable, perhaps a percentage tax based on income:  4% of a $34,074 income would be $1,362.96 and 4% of a $6,747,439 income generate $269,897.56 funding.

2. Maternity leave in america is pretty awful compared to Mexico's. In America, you're given 6 weeks off, fully paid, and 2.8 weeks of benefits in term of a fullrate wage equivalent. While Mexico has it that you are fully paid for 12 weeks, and if you need an extension, you have 6 weeks with half pay. It would be great and wise to give more benefits for women in need of maternity leave in America.

3. Allowing low wage workers and part-time employees more access to paid leave by lowering work requirements and restrictions on employer size.

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FLAG & MAP
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico
1.  INFANT MORTALITY RATES AND BIRTH OUTCOMES
a. indexmundi.com
b. Frontera norte vol.19 no.37 México ene./jun. 2007)
c. English, P.B., M. Kharrazi and R. Kreutzer (1997). Pregnancy outcomes in Mexican and U.S.-born Hispanics, Environmental Health Investigations Branch, California Department of Health Services and California Public Health Foundation.)

2.  CHILDCARE AND PRESCHOOL ACCESS
a. http://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?plotter=h5&primaryCountry=MEX&treshold=10&topic=EO
b. http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2017/mexico_eag-2017-59-en#page1
c. http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/education-at-a-glance-2016/mexico_eag-2016-70-en#page1
d. http://www.oecd.org/education/school/37423645.pdf
e. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2012-2013/americas/mexico.html
f.
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cfa.asp

3.  WEALTH DISTRIBUTION
http://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/4030/1/S2012969_en.pdf

4.  POLITICAL SYSTEM
a. Mexican Political System, www.rogerdarlington.me.uk/Mexicanpoliticalsystem
b. Parkes, Henry Bamford, and Gordon R. Willey. “Government and Society.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 Oct. 2017, www.britannica.com/place/Mexico/Government-and-society.
c.  http://www.sgi-network.org/2017/Mexico/Executive_Capacity

5.  HEALTHCARE
a.https://content.next.westlaw.com/Document/Ieb49d7021cb511e38578f7ccc38dcbee/View/FullText.html?contextData=(sc.Default)&transitionType=Default&firstPage=true&bhcp=1
b. https://www.internations.org/mexico-expats/guide/living-in-mexico-15386/healthcare-and-education-in-mexico-2

6.  GENDER PAY GAP
a. https://mdm.wageindicator.org/chart/paternity/484
b. https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/mexico/healthcare/pregnancy-birth/maternity-rights
c. https://data.oecd.org/earnwage/gender-wage-gap.htm

MEXICO COMPARED TO THE U.S.
1.
https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
2. https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/mexico/healthcare/pregnancy-birth/maternity-rights

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. https://inequality.org/facts/income-inequality/
2. https://www.angloinfo.com/how-to/mexico/healthcare/pregnancy-birth/maternity-rights