Alfonso Cuarón’s film Roma (2018) follows Cleo, a live-in domestic worker for a middle-class family in the Colonia Roma of Mexico City in the early 1970s. When Cleo is pregnant, doña Teresa, the children’s grandmother, takes her to a furniture store to buy a crib.
Later, on a beach, Cleo walks into the sea to bring the children out of the waves, although she cannot swim. In 2019 the film won the Oscar for best foreign language film.
Marcelina Bautista worked as a domestic worker for 22 years, starting at the age of 14. In 2010 she founded the Centro de Apoyo y Capacitación para Empleadas del Hogar, and in 2015 a national union of domestic workers.
In 2016 she told Expansión: “Luego dicen que somos casi de la familia. Las trabajadoras del hogar no queremos que nos adopten, queremos que respeten nuestros derechos” (Then they say that we are almost family. Domestic workers do not want to be adopted, we want our rights respected).
What she asks for is rights, not a place in the family.
In Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies, speakers open by asking the leave of the presiding officer. In the session of October 22, 2025, the deputies Ana Luisa del Muro García of the PT and Lucero Higareda Segura of Morena began their speeches with the same words: “Con su venia, presidenta” (With your leave, Madam President).
Other speakers in the same session said “Con la venia de la Presidencia” (With the leave of the Presidency) or “Con su permiso” (With your permission).
A guide to official documents of the state of Oaxaca tells writers to end the address block of a letter with the word PRESENTE, or EDIFICIO for internal mail. It also prescribes the motto “SUFRAGIO EFECTIVO, NO REELECCIÓN” (Effective suffrage, no reelection).
At the UNAM, the guide to official correspondence requires the closing Atentamente, then the institution’s motto, then the place and the date. The motto is “Por mi raza hablará el espíritu” (The spirit will speak for my race), adopted in 1921 under the rector José Vasconcelos.
Mexico’s official standard on psychosocial risk at work, NOM-035-STPS-2018, names liderazgo negativo, negative leadership, as a risk factor. It describes it as a relationship between the employer and the workers marked by an “actitud agresiva y/o impositiva” (aggressive and/or overbearing attitude) and “escaso o nulo reconocimiento y retroalimentación del desempeño” (little or no recognition and feedback on performance).
The questionnaire for larger workplaces asks workers to rate statements about their boss. One reads “Mi jefe tiene en cuenta mis puntos de vista y opiniones” (My boss takes my points of view and opinions into account). Another reads “La orientación que me da mi jefe me ayuda a realizar mejor mi trabajo” (The guidance my boss gives me helps me do my work better).
Grupo Carso, the conglomerate of Carlos Slim, has ten principles. The first, as quoted in the Mexican press, reads: “Estructuras simples, organizaciones con mínimos niveles jerárquicos, desarrollo humano y formación interna de las funciones ejecutivas” (Simple structures, organizations with minimal levels of hierarchy, human development and internal training for executive functions).
The official values of Grupo Bimbo include “Buscar que nuestro personal se desarrolle y realice plenamente” (to seek that our staff develop and fulfill themselves completely) and “Trabajamos en equipo. Colaboramos, sumamos esfuerzos, multiplicamos logros” (We work as a team. We collaborate, we add efforts, we multiply achievements).
Raymundo Yutani, a human resources director at FEMSA, told the magazine Corresponsables: “el liderazgo humano no es exclusivo de RH; es una de las principales responsabilidades de nuestros líderes” (human leadership is not exclusive to HR. It is one of the main responsibilities of our leaders).
In September 2007, Expansión published an article called “La era del jefe humilde” (The era of the humble boss). Ernesto Bolio, director of the areas of human factor and family business at the IPADE business school, said: “Ha habido un cambio social, los líderes son menos autócratas” (There has been a social change, leaders are less autocratic).
He added: “cuando el líder es autócrata hace gente chiquita” (when the leader is an autocrat, he makes people small).
In 2017, the book México cree en ti (Mexico believes in you) was published with the organization Promotora Social México. Its essay “Despierta al líder” (Awaken the leader) speaks for the organization.
“Proponemos un modelo de liderazgo evolucionado, más horizontal, más cercano y más colaborador” (We propose an evolved model of leadership, more horizontal, closer and more collaborative). It calls for “un nuevo tipo de liderazgo, centrado en la persona” (a new type of leadership, centered on the person).
In 2026, VinculaTégica, a journal of the Autonomous University of Nuevo León, published a qualitative study based on interviews with 47 administrative employees and middle managers of medium and large Mexican companies. They described their leaders now and the leaders they want. It concludes that “emergen demandas de un liderazgo participativo, ético y culturalmente sensible” (demands emerge for a participative, ethical and culturally sensitive leadership).
Among the desired traits, participants named a leader who “Toma en cuenta los diferentes puntos de vista” (takes different points of view into account).