Saturday, February 9, 2008

Single Mother Who Became President

Michelle Bachelet had to endure torture, exile, imprisonment, and her father's death in prison but was still able to become the first female President of Chile. Her father, Alberto Bachelet was an Air Force General working under Salvador Allende's administration when he was imprisoned after a coup in 1973 by Augusto Pinochet. The struggle and pain that her family had to endure, is one of many during that decade.

Despite the trauma of many thousands like her, she stood and said in front of millions, "Because I was the victim of hate, I've consecrated my life to turning hate into understanding, tolerance, and why not say it -- love." While it may be hard to forget, she said it is better to reconcile than to fight anger with anger.
Interview

Michelle Bachelet is a woman who has climbed up the ladder without a man by her side. She is a single mother. She is the President of Chile. She's a pediatrician. She's a socialist. And she was the former Minister of of Health and Defense. Without even being the president, she was already an accomplished individual. Running for president, was her ultimate fight and she definitely won that battle. Despite Latin American countries being known for their machismo attitudes, she won a historic battle. And when she won, she knew that she had to provide that equal opportunity for many struggling women.

Immediately after being swarn in, she divided her cabinet equally. She vowed to have woman in central decision making roles and her top 20 was equally divided between men and women. Her election, was not only one that signified that women were making their presence known but that Latin America was going through a change. With the presidency of Evo Morales, an Indian in Bolivia, a Revolutionary fighter in Venezuela being Hugo Chavez, a worker Luis de Silva of Brazil, a single mother, Michele Bachelete of Chile showed that it was a drastic time of change and renewal in some sense for Latin America.
Fighting for Women's Representatives

Michelle Bachelet wouldn't have imagined, being captured and exiled in her home country, that one day she would become the President of the same country where she was exiled from. On top of that having her opponent Sebastian Pinera stating, "he wanted to pay homage to all those millions and millions of women who with much strength and tenacity have finally achieved the place and the situation they deserve in our society" was a sweeter reward
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BBC

Thus seeing the progression of women in top ruling positions around the world, Chile and Germany for example, one wonders whether the United States will have that opportunity anytime soon. Hillary Clinton is fighting for that historic triumph right now. And one wonders, if she wins, will it be because America was ready to see a women's perspective or she simply was the "suitable" candidate compared to the others? And if she loses, will it be because America would vote for less qualified candidates rather than seeing a woman in charge or that she was too rough around the edges?

No matter what the outcome is, if other once military dominant dictatorship countries are able to have female presidents, then it is time for the United States to have one soon; whether it be Hillary or not.




2 comments:

-L said...

I found this to be a very interesting post as I had very little knowledge of Michele Bachelet (although I had heard of her before) prior to reading this. I found one fact in your post to be particularly interesting-"Immediately after being swarn in, she divided her cabinet equally. She vowed to have woman in central decision making roles and her top 20 was equally divided between men and women."
Although I admire her desire to bring women into the forefront of Chilean politics, by making it a known fact that she purposefully divided her cabinet equally, I feel that she was making gender/sex more of an issue then it needed to be.I mean, I feel she should have divided her cabinet up however she saw fit based on experience, and if it so happened to be that 15 out of 20 were women because they were the most qualified and vice versa, than her point could have still been made, but in a less pointed manner.

But then again those are just my personal thoughts! Keep up the great posts!

The Brand said...

I agree that I thought this post was super interesting - I didn't know much about Michele Bachelet either. I always find it interesting when America, a country which prides itself on being the social standard setter of the world, is, in essence, "beat to the punch" by another country. When will America be ready to let a woman take charge?? (Maybe this year??)

However, I think there is an extremely strong argument in this comment in that it should not be so much about female v. male, but who is the most qualified to do the job. When you go out of your way to distinguish the genders, it is almost like you are acknowledging the fact that women need "special favors" or "special attention" to be successful.

But go girl :)