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It was said that Chile was not ready to vote for a woman, it was traditionally a sexist country. In the end, the reverse happened: the fact of being a woman became a symbol of the process of cultural change the country was undergoing.

Michelle Bachelet

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Michelle Bachelet
Age: 73
Born: 1951
Born: September 29
Epidemiologist
Politician
President Of Chile
Surgeon
Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria
Veronica Michelle Bachelet Jeria
Change
Vote
Chile
Country
Ready
Traditionally
Happened
Sexist
Fact
Symbol
Woman
Reverse
Process
Symbols
Facts
Cultural
Ends
Became
Undergoing

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I am a woman with a calling for social struggle and public service.
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Gender equality will only be reached if we are able to empower women.
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Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.
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Given political history in Chile, it seemed to me that there was a critical task of consolidating a democracy and creating healthy civic-military and political-military relationships.
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When women earn the money for the family, everyone in the family benefits. We also know that when women have an income, everyone wins because women dedicate 90% of the income to health, education, to food security, to the children, to the family, or to the community, so when women have an income, everybody wins.
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We have to make sure that women's issues are an essential element on the agendas of all heads of state, all governments.
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When I'm speaking of love, when I'm speaking of reversing hate, I'm speaking not only of reconciliation - even I don't use that word - I use another word in Spanish, that's called 'reencuentro' - it's not reconciliation.
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I wouldn't be honest if I told you that in some moment of my life I had a lot of rage - probably hate - I'm not sure of hate, but rage. But you know what happens is that then you realize you cannot do to others what you think nobody has to do to anybody. Life is important for me and not any kind of life, quality too of life.
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In artillery exercises, women always win because they're more accurate.
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There has been a cultural shift. It is difficult to measure all that right now, but Chilean women have seen my presidency as a source of pride. Women are performing in jobs in Chile now that 20 or 30 years ago nobody would have dared to imagine.
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Women say that my election represents a cultural break with the past - a past of sexism, of misogyny.
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The challenge is for us to reinvigorate the relationship with the Chilean people and to give state institutions new legitimacy. But this is also a universal phenomenon. There's also disenchantment with politics in Europe.
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Educational equality doesn't guarantee equality on the labor market. Even the most developed countries are not gender-equal. There are still glass ceilings and 'leaky pipelines' that prevent women from getting ahead in the workplace.
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There is no city or country in the world where women and girls live free of the fear of violence. No leader can claim: this is not happening in my backyard.
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I was not born in a home where there were stereotypes. So that was very useful because it gave me the sense of possibilities, of flying, if I may say, of making my hopes and dreams a reality.
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Having been a head of state gives you the possibility of getting into places others can't go.
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Chile needs to unite behind the goals of reducing poverty and creating more equal opportunities so that everyone can benefit from what the country has to offer.
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I was a woman, a divorcee, a socialist, an agnostic . . . all possible sins together.
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