Journal of Economics, Management and Trade

Women’s incorporation into the Mexican labour market has occurred within unequal gender relations that concentrate them in low-paid occupations with limited mobility, while substantial wage differentials favouring men persist despite regulatory advances and women’s rising educational attainment. Against this background, this study estimates the magnitude and composition of the gender wage gap across economic sectors and identifies the mechanisms underlying it. This paper analyses gender wage disparities and occupational segregation in the Mexican labour market using microdata from the National Occupation and Employment Survey for the second quarter of 2025. By applying the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition with a Heckman selection correction, it quantifies wage differentials and separates their explained and unexplained components. The results reveal persistent inequality: the gender wage gap exceeds 20% overall, rising to 24% in the secondary sector and 28% in the tertiary sector. Despite women’s higher educational attainment, approximately 57% of the gap remains unexplained; this component is consistent with structural discrimination, occupational segregation, unobserved heterogeneity, and enduring gender norms, although it should not be interpreted as a direct measure of discrimination. Women’s concentration in undervalued care and service occupations restricts their access to high-productivity sectors, while motherhood penalties and fatherhood premiums illustrate how family responsibilities shape labour outcomes. The findings highlight the structural nature of inequality and underscore the need for comprehensive policies to expand care infrastructure, enhance women’s sectoral mobility, promote pay transparency, and enforce anti-discrimination mechanisms, particularly in the tertiary sector, where disparities are most pronounced.