Mercedes D’Alessandro is the new National Director of Economy and Gender

For the first time, the Ministry of Economy has an area that focuses on gender equality from an economic point of view. Mercedes D’Alessandro was appointed by Minister Martín Guzmán to run this new area. The brand new official says that “poverty is sexist” and that inequality is strongly expressed in terms of gender: “It is women, transvestites and transgenders who suffer from the worst conditions of employment and earn lower salaries.”

The new director of Economy and Gender takes into consideration the following data released by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) for the beginning of her management:

– Women have a lower level of economic activity (48%) than men (71%), since household chores compete with wage-earning jobs

– They perform 76% of unpaid household chores, with an average of 6.4 hours per day

– They earn less than men, with a salary gap of 28%

– Women under 29 exceed 23% unemployment (more than double the average unemployment rate)

– Among the young people that neither work nor study more than 65% are mothers

– Only 2 out of 10 workers in the industry (sector that offers better employment conditions and salaries) are women

Mercedes D’Alessandro was born in the city of Posadas. She holds a PhD in Economics issued by the University of Buenos Aires and has lectured for more than 15 years, mainly in the field of Epistemology of Economics.

In 2016 D’Alessandro published the book “Feminist Economy. How to build an equal society (without losing glamour)” and participated in another one entitled “Is the future feminist?”. In 2018, she was chosen as one of the most important intellectuals in Latin America by Fundación Avina. In addition, L’Oreal Paris chose her for an exhibition of photographs of the most inspiring Argentine women in recent years.