--- title: Mercedes D’Alessandro Is on the TIME100 Next 2021 List description: Find out how Mercedes D’Alessandro is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-02-17T02:05:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:48:12.510Z og:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Mercedes D’Alessandro og:description: Find out why Mercedes D’Alessandro is on this year’s TIME100 Next list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta07954c3460e3471/698a1718b21a9c07ab504874/time100-next-Mercedes-DAlessandro.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2021 TIME100 Next: Mercedes D’Alessandro og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Mercedes D’Alessandro twitter:description: Find out why Mercedes D’Alessandro is on this year’s TIME100 Next list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta07954c3460e3471/698a1718b21a9c07ab504874/time100-next-Mercedes-DAlessandro.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 17, 2021 # Mercedes D’Alessandro by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  Mercedes D’Alessandro Mercedes D’Alessandron/a (wiki commons no credit list 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 became the Argentine government’s first ever national director of gender, equality and economy. 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, 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_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/"},"headline":"Mercedes D’Alessandro","datePublished":"2021-02-17T02:05:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:48:12.510Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta07954c3460e3471/698a1718b21a9c07ab504874/time100-next-Mercedes-DAlessandro.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta07954c3460e3471/698a1718b21a9c07ab504874/time100-next-Mercedes-DAlessandro.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937708/mercedes-dalessandro/","name":"Mercedes D’Alessandro"}}]}] ```