Michelle Bachelet Quotes
For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but to be elected.
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.
The respect for human rights is nowadays not so much a matter of having international standards, but rather questions of compliance with those standards.
Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.
You have to be doing things that matter - responsibility, but also responsibility with epic and beautiful and noble tasks.
My message to women is: Women: We can do it. We are capable of doing almost anything, but we must learn we cannot do it all at once, we need to prioritize.
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.
I believe that if you want to fight inequality you have to do it starting at infancy.
I was a woman, a divorcee, a socialist, an agnostic . . . all possible sins together.
In today's interdependent world, a threat to one becomes a menace to all. And no state can defeat these challenges and threats alone.
Violence against women in all its forms is a human rights violation. It's not something that any culture, religion or tradition propagates.
In some places women have all the rights they deserve and in others there are big restrictions - in some countries they even mutilate women.
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.
My top priority for 2012 will be to make a renewed push for women's economic empowerment and political participation.
Having been a head of state gives you the possibility of getting into places others can't go.
You all want to know what is my dream? Very simple. To walk along the beach, holding the hand of my lover.
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.
The priority for my government is that there will be development for everyone, equally.
As the old joke goes, I have all the sins together. I am a woman, a Socialist, separated and agnostic.
The 2010 global gender gap report by the World Economic Forum shows that countries with better gender equality have faster-growing, more competitive economies.
The United Nations should become a proactive agent in the dissemination of democratic principles.
Women say that my election represents a cultural break with the past - a past of sexism, of misogyny.
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.
The current global landscape is quite different from the not-too-distant past. The process of globalization has intensified, and the world is moving towards new forms of governance.
We have had scarce investment in women... One of my tasks is that everyone spends much more on women.
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.
As a major economic force worldwide, India and Indian companies have the opportunity to set the standards in Asia in terms of women's right to decent work.
We have to make sure that women's issues are an essential element on the agendas of all heads of state, all governments.
The change of the binominal system is without a doubt, a great advancement, it will allow us to be better represented and have better ideas.
In any area of the UN we ... have to agree on certain language that can represent the same spirit, but that can be accepted by everyone.
By including women in decision-making, city governments will be in a better position to fulfill their responsibility to ensure the safety of their residents, especially women and girls.
Today it is time to give the government a new lease of life and this new phase which is as demanding as it is inspiring requires renovated energy and new faces.
It isn't that women are less ambitious,but women want to find a balance between work, love, and family.
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.
