López Leyva Highlights the Humanities’ Role in Building a National Research Agenda

As part of UNAM’s 2023 to 2027 Institutional Development Plan, the University launched the first session of the Health Forum: Care, Work, and Aging, aimed at creating a research agenda in the humanities and social sciences that addresses national challenges through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Miguel Armando López Leyva noted that the forum reflects the academic strength of UNAM’s Humanities Subsystem and the capacity of its researchers to engage with urgent national issues.

Violeta Vázquez-Rojas Maldonado, Undersecretary for Science, Humanities, Technology, and Innovation in Mexico’s federal government, also participated in the forum. López Leyva emphasized that collaboration with her office will be essential to achieving the forum’s goals.

The opening panel, Work and Care, was moderated by Amneris Chaparro Martínez, Director of UNAM’s Center for Gender Research and Studies (CIEG). The discussion explored topics such as government responsibility in caregiving, who provides care for caregivers, and the recognition of care as a fundamental human right.

Mercedes Pedrero Nieto, a researcher at UNAM’s Regional Center for Multidisciplinary Research, emphasized that women predominantly perform care work. She referred to the Social Organization of Care framework: Reduce, Recognize, and Redistribute Care Responsibilities. 

Edith Pacheco Gómez Muñoz, a researcher at El Colegio de México, added that while most labor is compensated, care work often goes unpaid. She noted that this disparity reveals how caregiving is currently treated in the country.

Marta Clara Ferreyra Beltrán, Director General for the National Policy on Equality and Women’s Rights at the Ministry for Women’s Affairs, emphasized that receiving care must be acknowledged as a basic human right.