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CHILE: First Woman President
Scores Points on Gender Front
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO (IPS/TerraViva) - When Chile elected
Michelle Bachelet as its first woman president in 2005,
thousands of women celebrated the historic victory as
their own personal triumph, proudly marching in the
streets wearing mock presidential sashes. Today, men and
women both recognise the concrete and symbolic progress
achieved in gender issues under her administration.
At the end of her term on Mar. 11, Bachelet will be
stepping down with a tremendous level of popularity: 83
percent, a record in her country, and almost unheard of
in the rest of the world.
The inauguration of rightwing President-elect Sebastián
Piñera that day will close a chapter in the history of
this South American country of 17 million people,
governed by the centre-left coalition Concertación de
Partidos por la Democracia since the return to democracy
in 1990.
As a result of the gender equity policies implemented by
the Bachelet administration, Chile will be the Latin
American country with the most gains to show at the Mar.
1-12 meeting of the United Nations Commission on the
Status of Women, in which governments will gather in New
York for the 15-year review of the implementation of the
Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action adopted in
1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in
the Chinese capital.
One of the 12 priorities established by the Platform of
Action was furthering women's participation in politics
and decision-making processes.
Bachelet is a leading example to the world of what
political power in the hands of a woman can mean in
terms of the advancement of women in general.
The benefits gained by women through the 2008 social
security reform - such as the basic retirement pension
for poor homemakers who never had formal employment and
the bonus granted for each child - are among the main
achievements of Bachelet's efforts to advance gender
equality.
Another legacy of the socialist president, a social
activist since her youth who was imprisoned and tortured
by the Augusto Pinochet military dictatorship
(1973-1990), is the Integral Protection System for Early
Childhood "Chile Crece Contigo" (Chile Grows With You),
which provides support for parents and children from the
child's conception through age four.
Other major gains for women include the large number of
free day care centres and nursery schools established
throughout the country, which have given women more
freedom to enter the labour market, and a law aimed at
bridging the gender wage gap, which also grants labour
benefits to domestic workers.
"The Bachelet administration was just one more step in
the progress that has been made in gender equity issues
by the four Concertación governments" over the past 20
years, political scientist María de los Ángeles
Fernández, who is writing a book on Bachelet's political
leadership, told TerraViva.
But while Bachelet is not alone in her efforts, the
59-year-old paediatrician has made a contribution that
is critical on several levels, Fernández said.
"Symbolically, she has been a role model for children,
as having a woman president expands the horizon of
opportunities available to women," said Fernández, who
is the executive director of Fundación Chile 21.
Moreover, by repeatedly bringing up "women's issues in
her public addresses, she elevated them to the status of
state policy, while in Latin America these issues have
traditionally been considered as second to the economy
and defence policies," she said. "Protecting the women
of Chile is my duty," is one of the statements by
Bachelet that Fernández highlights as best representing
her.
According to the political scientist, Bachelet also gave
visibility to women by naming the same number of female
as well as male ministers in choosing the members of her
cabinet, which at the end of her term still has almost
45 percent female representation, despite numerous
reshuffles.
Her concern for achieving equal representation of women
was already evident when she headed the health and
defence ministries during the government of Ricardo
Lagos (2000-2006).
"As defence minister, one of the issues she focused on
was the incorporation of women into all three arms,"
Fernández said.
Some politicians and political analysts have attributed
her popularity to her friendly and open nature and her
close contact with the people.
A rightwing leader described her as an "affable
housewife," and in July 2009, Patricio Navia, a
researcher with Chile's Diego Portales University and
New York University, wrote an opinion column calling
Bachelet's government a "cariñocracia," playing with the
Spanish word for "affection" and the suffix for "rule."
"Chileans are sexist, and at first they treated her
badly because she was a woman, but now everyone applauds
her" because "they realised that she's a very capable
woman and she's done everything right," Nelson Carrizo,
a 57-year-old flower vendor, told TerraViva.
Pilar Montoya, a 43-year-old secretary with
right-leaning views, thought that because she was a
woman Bachelet would not be able to overcome the
problems she faced at the start of her term. "She did
such a good job she surprised us all," this mother of
two told TerraViva, adding that she's "proud" of how
Bachelet represented her country abroad.
As soon as she came into office Bachelet had to deal
with conflicts on several fronts, including dismantling
the failed Transantiago transportation programme,
designed for the capital by the previous administration,
and solving a number of major protests by students and
other social sectors.
When she came under harsh criticism for her alleged lack
of leadership, Bachelet employed the word applied to
gender-motivated homicides and said she was a victim of
"political femicide," a form of public image slaying.
Bachelet took a horizontal approach to governing, often
creating advisory committees with the participation of
all the relevant stakeholders, towards streamlining the
drafting and implementation of public policies.
She will also be remembered for her efficient management
of government finances, which allowed the state to save
a portion of the earnings derived from the high
international price of copper - Chile's leading export
product - and use it to provide cash benefits to the
lowest-income families when the country began to feel
the effects of the global financial crisis in 2009.
"With the implementation of (Bachelet's) 'gender
agenda,' Chilean women's organisations have finally
achieved what has been a long-standing demand: putting
women's issues on the public agenda," National Women's
Service Minister Carmen Andrade told TerraViva.
For Andrade, the mainstreaming of this cross-cutting
issue throughout the country's public policies cannot
merely be explained by the fact that Bachelet is a
woman; it was only possible because she's "a woman
committed to furthering social and gender issues."
Andrade highlights Bachelet's capacity to turn the
concrete problems faced by common people into "public
policies, programmes and actions."
While making an overall positive assessment of
Bachelet's administration, the women's movement finds it
lacking in two areas: the implementation of an integral
policy to address domestic and sexual violence,
including prevention measures, and guaranteeing women's
full enjoyment of sexual and reproductive rights.
Bachelet made emergency contraceptive, or
'morning-after,' pills freely available to all women
over the age of 14 through public health facilities, but
due to pressure from conservative elements within her
own coalition, she was unable to push for the
decriminalisation of therapeutic abortion.
Chile is one of the few countries in the world where
abortions are illegal under any circumstances, even when
the mother’s life is at risk.
Other pending issues are the expansion of women's
political participation and the redistribution of
economic power.
"Today, for the first time ever, the participation of
women in Chile's labour market has broken through the 40
percent ceiling, but women continue to be concentrated
in certain occupations, which are the worst paid, and
there are still almost no women in corporate management
positions," Andrade said.
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