MercadoLibre does not disclose transparent gender wage gap information

Equal remuneration for work of equal value is a principle stemming from the most authoritative documents of international law, the 1951 ILO Convention(1), and the 1976 ICESCR(2). It is now enshrined at the SDG 2030 Agenda(3).

In 2020, Latin America remained at the lowest rankings in equal wage (4;p1). Argentina and Brazil are at the 112th and 130th place out of 153 ranked countries(4;p69,103). Globally, the average women income is only 53% of the men’s. In average, men make 87% more than women(5). But studies show that gender wage gaps reduce when companies are required by their governments to disclose this information(6).

Mercado Libre is an Argentine company that operates in Latin American countries, employing more than 9.000 people, mainly in Argentina and Brazil(7;p39).Its sustainability reports follow the regulatory standards of the Global Reporting Initiative(8). The GRI standards include the disclosure of equal pay quantitative information: a ratio of remuneration of women to men(9;p7). However, MercadoLibre does not disclose this information in its reports(10;p47). In addition, the GRI requires companies to disclose ratios of standard entry-level wage by gender, compared to local minimum wage(9;p119).MercadoLibre has not disclosed this information either, stating this will soon be updated, which has hitherto not occurred(9;p76).

What can be noted is that in 2019, men were hired 49% more than the number of female hires(10;p43). Only 39% of the workforce was composed by women; and the female turnover rate, i.e. women leaving the company, was higher than the male: 58% of women workers had left the company, versus 45% of men(10;p43).

In light of its gender differences, considering MercadoLibre operates in more than one jurisdiction, and to reduce the global gender wage gap, the company should adopt a transparent reporting policy on gender wage equality, regardless of whether this information is requested by the governments of the countries in which it operates.