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. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
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. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
My top priority for 2012 will be to make a renewed push for women’s economic empowerment and political participation. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
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. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
There’s full consensus in the military that women shouldn’t be in person-to-person combat. I don’t know if we have enough experience to know whether this is the right approach. But women can be elsewhere. We have mandatory military service in Chile. I pushed for women in all areas. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
In any area of the U.N. we… have to agree on certain language that can represent the same spirit, but that can be accepted by everyone. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
There does not have to be trade-off between growth and social protection. A democracy does not mean much if it doesn’t respond to the needs and will of its people. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
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. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
Chile has done a lot to rid itself of poverty, especially extreme poverty, since the return to democracy. But we still have a ways to go toward greater equity. This country does not have a neoliberal economic model anymore. We have put in place a lot of policies that will ensure that economic growth goes hand in hand with social justice. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
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. Michelle Bachelet Read Quote
