Gender, environment and business responsibility
Published in Social Sciences, Sustainability, and Business & Management
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Analysis for environmental issues in the Mexican society from a gender view
Our paper makes a significant contribution to the fields of gender studies, environmental sociology, and critical Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research. Particularly, we introduce a novel conceptual framework called the Responsibility Footprint, which reinterprets CSR through a gender and ecological lens. It is applied to the Mexican case.
We analyse the social perception and attitudes of the Mexican people by gender related to several spatial, environmental and public health issues as global warming, water shortage, water pollution and the influence of economic growth.
Our objective is twofold. First, a renewed framework of business responsibility is described, including the “responsibility footprints”. Second, an integrated measurement of environmental and social impacts within a broader analytical framework such as that of business responsibility (CSR) is proposed.
Many researchers study the environmental risks, but they are frequently less related to the gender. The importance of this study stems from the synergetic influence of ecological awareness, on the one hand, and women’s role in the conservation of natural resources and public health, as well as their more positive attitude towards environmental issues, on the other, despite women having mainly been vetoed from the greater public and private administrative and decision-making scene.
In this new approach, from a post-Marxist point of view (Marxism, feminism and ecologism currents) related to the metabolic rift, several environmental and socioeconomic indexes are incorporated into the new CSR approach, thus integrating the measurement of business responsibility into the usual ethical parameters of social responsibility.
Particularly, Latin America had the lowest levels of gender inequality in the areas of health and education. More specifically, the gender gap in Mexico in 2020 was one of the highest within the group of Latin American countries, both on a global scale and in each of the categories covered by the Gender Gap Index (GGI), excepting health.
Regards to Mexico, several papers study mainly the socio-environmental perceptions and risks, although they not study this topic from a gender and economic view together. We have proposed several original indices, and apply these to Mexican data to analyse perceptions of environmental risks differentiated by gender.
This paper brings to light the invisible pillars of labour exploitation on a global scale, that is, women's unpaid work and the unappreciated wealth and services provided by the environment; thus relativizing the emphasis on business ethics from a neo-liberal approach. Particularly, the social and environmental footprints of the Mexican people with regard to issues of such social interest as global warming or the influence of economic growth on the environment.
The empirical results suggest nuanced gendered patterns in ecological awareness, policy preferences, and concern about water scarcity and pollution. In conclusion, this study is relevant for public policies that will greatly bolster initiatives to prompt, among others, better female professional involvement in the conservation of natural resources and public health.
This post draws on the co-authored article by J. Agustín Franco and Manuel Pulido, “Analysis for environmental issues in the Mexican society from a gender view” (Discover Environment, 2025), https://doi.org/10.1007/s44274-025-00382-9
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Discover Environment
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