2021 TIME 100 NEXT: Mercedes D'Alessandro
Pandemic-related job losses have hit women harder than men. But in Argentina, economist Mercedes D’Alessandro is determined to soften the blow that this period poses for gender equality in the workplace.
After five years of analyzing the subject through her media outlet Economía Femini(s)ta, in 2020, D’Alessandro, 43, became the Argentine government’s first ever National Director of Gender, Equality and Economy - a post created by the center-left Alberto Fernández administration, elected in 2019.
In September, her office published a report quantifying the economic value of unpaid care and domestic work—three-quarters of which is carried out by women in Argentina—at 15.9% of GDP (or around $56 billion in 2020), more than all other sectors.
That understanding of women’s labor underpins the 2021 national budget, targeted to support women through measures such as expanded public infrastructure for childcare and requirements for state construction contractors to employ more women.
Going forward, one of D’Alessandro’s priorities is to lengthen Argentina’s two-day state-mandated paternity leave (mothers get 90 days). But she says all economic policy in Argentina needs to account for gender.
Thanks to her, it likely will. ··· Ciara Nugent
At: https://time.com/collection/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/
Argentina's National Director of Gender, Equality and Economy, Mercedes D’Alessandro.
Her office, which promotes gender and diversity programs in the Economy Ministry and oversees a $66 million budget, is a first in Argentina.
“It is the first time that we have a Budget with a gender perspective,” D'Alessadro pointed out.
“In the face of the crisis, women are the ones with the highest levels of unemployment, of poverty. That a budget addresses this problem, means that there are paths to resolving these issues.”
