We simply can no longer afford to deny the full potential of one half of the population. The world needs to tap into the talent and wisdom of women. Whether the issue is food security, economic recovery, health, or peace and security, the participation of women is needed now more than ever.
As more and more women, men and young people raise their voices and become active in local government, and more local leaders take action for the safety of women and girls, change happens.
As a doctor, when I was minister of health and would go somewhere, little girls would come up to me and say, ‘I want to be like you one day, I want to be a doctor.’ Now, they tell me, ‘I want to be president just like you.’ All of us can dream as big as we want.
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.
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.
In today’s interdependent world, a threat to one becomes a menace to all. And no state can defeat these challenges and threats alone.
In artillery exercises, women always win because they’re more accurate.
People see I am a mother and head of a household. Today in Chile, one-third of households are run by women. They wake up, take the children to school, go to work. To them I am hope.