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UN Woman: Michelle Bachelet in Conversation at SIPA
Former President of Chile Discusses Life as a Female Leader and Her New Role at the UN
By Marie O’Reilly, Communiqué
Students witnessed a lively and frank conversation with UN Women’s Executive Director Michelle Bachelet at SIPA last Wednesday, just six days after the fledgling UN agency’s official launch. The former president of Chile discussed her new role empowering women and promoting gender equality across the globe, and talked openly about her own life as a leader and as a woman.
Timed as an early celebration of the 100th International Women’s Day on March 8, the event drew a massive crowd to the 15th floor of the International Affairs Building, with the venue filled to capacity long before the speaker arrived and many people being turned away at the door.
“She is a role model for everyone at SIPA,” said second year Master’s student Sofia Fernandez del Castillo. And Bachelet was generous with her advice for the aspiring leaders in the audience. Know what you want to do, she told them, make commitments, be consistent, and be honest.
When her interlocutor, Professor Elisabeth Lindenmayer, asked whether female leaders had to take a more masculine approach to succeed, Bachelet related a story about a Chilean man who had a different take. “Thank you for bringing humanity into politics,” he told her when she visited the southernmost city in Chile. Stressing the role of emotion and compassion in leadership, Bachelet added, “It’s not all about the economy. It’s also about feeling that the people who are in charge of you care about you.”
Bachelet succeeded in shattering glass ceilings throughout her career in Chile, where she was a doctor, a politician, minister for health, and minister for defense before being elected as the country’s first female president in 2006. Having survived arrest and torture, and the death of her father under the Pinochet regime, Bachelet brought a passion for social justice and equality to her work at home.
Now, at UN Headquarters in New York, she has a daunting task ahead of her as she sets out to nurture these kinds of possibilities for women everywhere. With women making up just 19 percent of parliamentarians around the world, UN Women will focus on expanding women’s leadership and participation in politics, and Bachelet will be able to bring her experience to bear. The agency, which consolidates four existing UN organizations working on gender issues, will also seek to end violence against women and girls, strengthen women’s roles in peace and security, and enhance women’s economic status.
From the use of rape as a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo to gender-based violence in American homes, Bachelet is aware of the high expectations that have been placed on her. “People look at it—UN Women—as hope,” she remarked. Fortunately, as a veteran leader herself, she also knows how to manage expectations.
The final question of the night hit a little closer to Bachelet’s new professional home. When a student asked about reducing sexual harassment and increasing gender parity within the UN itself, Bachelet admitted that, “We need to give the example.”
After the event, Professor Lindenmayer, who led a distinguished career at the UN and now directs the UN Studies Program at SIPA, elaborated on this challenge. Since 192 nationalities bring very different perspectives on women, “The UN is just the mirror of the world, and what is happening at the UN is happening in the world,” said Lindenmayer. “But as she said, we should give the example.”