"Rome" relaunched the debate on racism and discrimination in Mexico

Rome lifted the lid of a pressure cooker in Mexico for to testify to the racism and discrimination that persist in this country and who faced his main protagonist, Yalitza Aparicio.

Only fame and worldwide recognition could open the covers of fashion magazines to an Indian. in which, very rarely, perhaps even ever, women with dark skin, small and rather round in shape, with dark skin.

To debate about his talent or his merits as an actress, is imposed the director of the film, Alfonso Cuarón., on the eve of the Oscars.

"We are at a time when the country must recognize itself as a racist nationCuarón said in an interview with the United Nations.

"In the world in general, clbad differences and social differences go hand in hand, in Mexico they are very specific to indigenous peoples, It is not very difficult to see where the economic power is based on the color of the skin and where aboriginal people end up with much less privilege."said the filmmaker.

Cuarón was seconded on Monday by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who during his morning press conference, he congratulated the entire team in Rome and said: "Yes, in Mexico unfortunately there is a lot of racism".

The filmmaker's and president's claims are not new to researchers like Raymundo Miguel Campos Vázquez., Colegio de México Economic Studies Center (Colmex).

It's been a while since this academic undertook an investigation on the weight of skin color when evaluating a person in Mexican society.

The results of his study are decisive: Yes, it is difficult for a brown person to climb the social ladder because it has fewer opportunities to study and find a better job. than a person with white skin.

According to his article "Color of skin and social mobility: testimonies of Mexico", prepared by Campos Vázquez in collaboration with Eduardo Medina Cortina, light-skinned people have an average of 1.4 years of additional schooling and receive an additional wage of 53% per hour of work than those with darker skin.

From your studies, the researchers concluded that the Mexican population is stratified from the skin coloralthough they admit that it is very difficult to measure discrimination.

To test your salary discrimination hypothesis based on the color of the skin, Campos Vázquez has sent a series of resumes (CVs) to various actual vacancies in job pages..

It was the same resume, of men and women, with the difference that the applicant's photo was of different skin color. "We could expect the response rates to be the same, but what we observed was not," said Campos Vázquez.

Businesses called more white women and single women, while there was no difference between white and brown men.if they were single or married.

This is a proof of discrimination, should be the same response rate if only aspects of productivity have been evaluated, work experience and academic performance, considered academic.

The investigation on Campos Vázquez was the first of a broad program on the economics of discrimination. For example, he badyzed whether there was discrimination in the labor market due to obesity.

In a similar exercise to the previous one, in collaboration with Eva González, fictional resumes were sent with photos of men and women digitally manipulated to appear obese.

The results they found is that for men, there is no effect of being obese or not, but for women, yes. If they are thin, the response rate is higher, according to a researcher to whom the 2018 research award from the Academy of Sciences of Mexico (AMC) was awarded in the social sciences.

Having proof of this behavior, the specialist considered that The state must intervene with very simple actions, such as the prohibition on companies to oblige candidates to indicate their marital status or their photos in the CV or in the application for employment.