The priority for my government is that there will be development for everyone, equally.

Women say that my election represents a cultural break with the past – a past of sexism, of misogyny.

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...

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.’

Who could have thought 20, ten or five years ago, that Chile would elect a woman to be president!

My father respected and admired my mother and was a person who was always standing by my side, encouraging me to do more and believed in my capacity. So in that sense, my own experience...

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.

We have to look at how much the coffer holds to calculate the percentage rate by which we can increase it.

I’m working for the women in the world, today; that’s my essential issue.

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...

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...

Today is the day of the citizens. It’s their decision. We’re very calm and very optimistic.

Gender equality will only be reached if we are able to empower women.

Having more women in company boards, in senior management, supervisory positions and workers in the formal sector is not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing to do. It’s good for the...

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.

In artillery exercises, women always win because they’re more accurate.

The respect for human rights is nowadays not so much a matter of having international standards, but rather questions of compliance with those standards.

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...

Chile has taken an enormous step in creating a country by everyone and for everyone. My commitment is we will work in every possible way without rest very close to all of you.

My top priority for 2012 will be to make a renewed push for women’s economic empowerment and political participation.

I wouldn’t be honest if I told you that in some moment of my life I had a lot of rage – probably hate – I’m not sure of hate, but rage. But you know...

The presence of progressive governments can facilitate the coordination of policies among some of them, but as president, I will work with all regional democratic leaders.

It isn’t that women are less ambitious, but women want to find a balance between work, love, and family.

Because I’m a doctor, I know when you have an injury it will heal if it’s clean enough to heal; if your injury is dirty, it won’t heal. And so when you are talking in...

Women’s strength, women’s industry, women’s wisdom are humankind’s greatest untapped resource. The challenge then for U.N. Women is to show our diverse constituencies how this resource can be effectively tapped in ways that benefit us...

I want there to be more jobs, and I will not commit to a million jobs because we have already created 150 thousand new jobs this past year.

During my lifetime, I realized that discrimination was not accidental, that there were structural roots and causes to it. So if we wanted to change women’s lives, we need to deal with those root causes.

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...

I was a woman, separated, a socialist, an agnostic … all possible sins together.

Violence against women in all its forms is a human rights violation. It’s not something that any culture, religion or tradition propagates.

One of the factors a country’s economy depends on is human capital. If you don’t provide women with adequate access to healthcare, education and employment, you lose at least half of your potential. So, gender...

Having been a head of state gives you the possibility of getting into places others can’t go.

This Cabinet is a historic step for equality between men and women. These are people with considerable intellectual, professional and political prestige (who are) up to the great challenges we have ahead.

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 possibility of my presidential candidacy emerged spontaneously in public opinion polls. For my part, I noticed people’s affection when I was doing work on the ground. I think the important thing is that my...

We will continue to do well what we have been doing well, maintaining a stable economy.

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.

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.

In this welcome meeting we expressed our willingness to work together on a bilateral agenda.

Educational equality doesn’t guarantee equality on the labor market. Even the most developed countries are not gender-equal. There are still glass ceilings and ‘leaky pipelines’ that prevent women from getting ahead in the workplace.

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.

What is important is that we guarantee decent and dignified work to all Chileans ‘¦ what is important is that everybody has the same rights and the same opportunities.

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...

In some places women have all the rights they deserve and in others there are big restrictions – in some countries they even mutilate women.

We want a more prosperous, more just, more equal, more inclusive future. I shall keep my word. I shall tell you what I think and I shall do what I say. I give you my...

I believe that if you want to fight inequality you have to do it starting at infancy.

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,...