Why Mexico's Gender-Biased Stats Need a Makeover

Mexico's head of household stat is about as accurate as a Chihuahua trying to knit a sweater. It's outdated, biased, and frankly, barking mad. Why? Because it's counting chickens, but only the roosters, while the hens are left clucking in the coop.

Claudia Serna Hernández, a UNAM grad student, cracked open this egg of inequality with her thesis. She found that the way we count families in Mexico, with this “head of household” business, is stuck in a time warp. It assumes the man is the breadwinner, the paterfamilias, even if the real Doña Cleta is the one hustling to keep the tortillas warm.

This isn't just some academic squawk. It matters. These stats are used to design policies, and if they're skewed, the ones who need help most get left out in the cold. Imagine a flood relief program that only helps houses with a man in it, while the families led by resourceful señoras are left high and dry. Not cool.

Serna Hernández argues that the whole “head of household” thing is like calling a laptop a typewriter. It's outdated and doesn't capture the complexity of modern families. There are single moms, dual-income couples, and multi-generational households where grandma's the glue that holds it all together. One label doesn't cut it.

She's not saying we should ditch stats altogether. No, we need better ones, ones that count the unpaid work, the emotional labor, the invisible hands that keep families afloat. Ones that recognize that a household isn't just about who brings home the bacon, but who cooks it, cleans the grease, and tells the bedtime stories.

This isn't just a Mexican issue. The United Nations, the big daddy of stats, also pushes this “head of household” thing. But Serna Hernández is calling for a global cluck-up, a rethink of how we count families. We need stats that reflect the messy, beautiful reality of our homes, not some dusty old stereotype.

So, the next time you see a stat about “heads of household,” remember, it might just be counting roosters, while the real power players, the hens, are busy keeping the whole coop running. Let's give them the credit they deserve, and update our stats to sing their praises. Because in the end, it's not about who's the head, it's about who makes the whole damn family work.

P.S. To all the señoras out there, keep clucking. Your work matters, and one day, the stats will catch up.