Lawyers File 1st Gender Discrimination Petition Under The USMCA

The Migrants' Human Rights Center (CDM), a transnational workers' rights law NGO, filed the first formal complaint under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) over gender discrimination against women who apply to the temporary work visa program.

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The petition was submitted to Mexico's Labor and Social Security Secretary on behalf of former migrant workers Maritza Perez and Adareli Ponce. 

CDM explained that there are two types of H2 visas for temporary work in the United States. The H-2B visas apply for temporary non-agricultural employment and are the most commonly granted to women. However, gender discrimination is applied to H-2A visas for temporary agricultural work since 92 percent of these visas are allowed to men. 

Ponce testified that it took her two years to get a work visa; thereafter, she and other migrant women suffered labor abuse.

CDM President Rachel Micah-Jones noted that female migrant workers are employed in lower-paid activities and at risk of sexual harassment with no access to legal services. Furthermore, H-2B visa jobs do not have free housing benefits. 

The U.S. economy employs over 7,200,000 Mexican immigrant workers. In Nov. 2020, at least 66 percent of those workers were men. 

Even though labor laws prohibit gender-based discrimination, only 10 percent of workers under the H-2 temporary visa programs are women who also face unequal pay.