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Gender, Institutions, and Change in Bachelet’s Chile pp 95–120Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Promoting Gender Equality: Michelle Bachelet and Formal and Informal Institutional Change within the Chilean Presidency

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Part of the book series: Studies of the Americas ((STAM))

Abstract

In her first presidential address in 2006, Michelle Bachelet pledged to work toward “a society more inclusive, that does not discriminate and that does not forget those who have been left behind. A country without exclusions demands that women exercise the fullness of citizenship, in all of its facets. My government will support, in the most decisive manner, the effective exercise of the rights of the woman” (Bachelet 2006).1 As president, Bachelet kept many of her campaign promises around gender equality. She appointed Chile’s first gender parity cabinet. Her signature political successes included pension reforms to equalize pensions between men and women, the provision of state provided childcare aimed particularly at poor and working-class women and children, and the strengthening of domestic violence laws (Franceschet chapter 3 in this volume, Staab chapter 5 in this volume, Staab and Waylen 2014; Ríos 2009).

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Authors
  1. Gwynn Thomas
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Manchester, UK

    Georgina Waylen (professor of Politics) (professor of Politics)

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© 2016 Gwynn Thomas

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Thomas, G. (2016). Promoting Gender Equality: Michelle Bachelet and Formal and Informal Institutional Change within the Chilean Presidency. In: Waylen, G. (eds) Gender, Institutions, and Change in Bachelet’s Chile. Studies of the Americas. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137501981_5

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