Public policies and women´s empowerment in Ensenada, Baja California

Indigenous women experience discrimination worldwide due to gender inequity, ethnic origin and poverty. Gender public policies are designed to mitigate such situation, drive women into an empowerment process in public and private spheres and integrate them into productive work.In Mexico, during Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency, the Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas, CDI (National Commission for the Development of Indigenous People) through the Programa para el Mejoramiento de la Producción y Productividad Indígena, PROIN (Indigenous Production and Productivity Improvement Program), granted support to productive groups of indigenous men and women, to increase their monetary and / or non-monetary income, empower women and girls, and improve their life conditions.The purpose of this research is to measure empowerment in indigenous women’s productive groups benefited by PROIN from 2014 to 2017, in the Ensenada Municipality, Baja California, Mexico. A Quantitative method is applied.Among our main findings, we highlight the importance of participating in these productive groups to promote women empowerment; however, women need gender perspective accompaniment and guidance to deal with the sociocultural patriarchal system, which constrains their empowerment.