Chilean Feminism and Pinochet’s Regime Creating Bachelet

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Women groups began to be created to ease women’s participation in the opposition of the dictatorship, groups of struggle, and most significantly gender issues began to arise. Many of these groups were part of the growing women movements or feminists’ movements. More women began to partake in national administrations and different candidate positions. Their demands, repressions and protests constituted by the movements created legislations, public policies that were pressed towards the government. All of these women taking the opportunities of their misfortunes to tell a story and share it with the world was powerful conclude. The other women who were afraid of the repercussions knew they had a support system of strong women.

The need to return to a democratic state and stress that women’s rights was essential to the overthrowing of authoritarian governmental control was expressed by the Chilean feminist movements in the state. Latin America women began to carry out feminist’s movements calling for "equal political and civil rights" and "to be represented in all areas of government" (Carr, 1990). Chilean women organized with a vigilant effort to revolutionize the society. Women started to become aware of the gender issues created by the military ruthlessness on their local officials, spouses, families, and friends. It brought upon measureable social movements by the women who wanted a change.

Pinochet’s military dictatorship generated new organized feminism movements that arose from the abandonments of leftists political groups. In 1979, the feminist academic Julieta Kirkwood and others created a Women’s Studies Circle, "The development of a broad, strong, pluralistic women's movement, with a multitude of demands from diverse social sectors…" (Smith, 2008). Circulo, as it was called, developed new bases for a mobilization of traditional gender-based responsibilities. Feminists succeeded the formation of the National Office for Women's in 1991, SERNAM that embodied a new phase towards uniting the value of Chilean women’s equality. Human rights groups created by women became profoundly involved in powerful forefront experiences with victims of tyranny and their families’ sufferings. Since the Pinochet military was targeting the men by “detaining, torturing, and taken by Pinochet’s military” the women were shoved into the forefront to take on the roles as leaders of the households (Stern, 2006). Another group was created, The Concetracion de Mujeres whom worked together to raise awareness of women’s issues among politicians as well as encouraging women themselves to be candidates for political elections (Jaquette, 1994). The influence of the women’s movement began to raise new types of affiliations between political parties and female associates. Establishing that women were important social and political actors was an outcome from the movements during the period of the dictatorship, which helped put forth the next president.

A female president was introduced; who was no longer a utopian ideal or unfeasible aspiration, Michelle Bachelet was the reality. Michelle Bachelet has the right to say that her presence has increased the women’s accessibility to political positions. Bachelet came from an educated middle class and witnessed personally the conversion of a peaceful democratic nation into an inhumane military dictatorship. Like many other Chilean families, the Pinochet regimen impacted Bachelet’s own family ruthlessly. Bachelet's father opposed the coup and refused exile, which led to the experience the death of her father after he had been tortured for his resistance against the régime. The passing of her father to the personal experience of imprisonment, torment, and banishment her political views began to take shape. As a young woman she was tortured alongside her mother, and after a prolonged exile in East Germany, the Soviet Union, and Australia she returned to Chile in 1979 (Fernandez, 2012). Many of those who were exiled from Chile eventually returned after Pinochet’s government was overthrown. In the reverberation of the coup, Bachelet and her mother became heavily involved with the Socialist Party's resistance movement (Smith 2008). As a popular and politically active student, she was one of thousands accused of being an "enemy" of the new regime. Bachelet was partaking in numerous political organizations that were working to rebuild democracy to Chile.

The research on Bachelet’s policies indicated that she made it possible for women’s access to advance in the policymaking and lawmaking realm. Bachelet’s presidential victory began a process of re-gendering the Chilean state. Her election indicated a promise to women that they were included in Chile’s political sphere. All the political conversations flowed into Argentina and other near by states, which prompted two other female presidents into becoming elected in South America with similar leftist manifestos.

Michelle Bachelet announced a proposal in court called the Equal Political Participation of Men and Women Bill, which was aimed to “facilitate access of women to positions of political representation by setting that either gender may not exceed 70 percent of the internal positions of the political parties, of the lists of candidates and of the municipal and parliamentary elections ” (Viñas, 2014). Men and women in Chile were fighting to become equal in this new democratic era. Bachelet’s concentrations on policymaking included more women and other defenseless members, which was a more acceptable approach that the Chilean’s supported because women only held, “9 percent of seats in the lower house and 16 percent in the upper house” (Viñas, 2014). The conversation over the importance of modifying the system to include more female participation in politics was brought forward even though the bill did not advance in the political sphere.

Michelle Bachelet’s presence had an effect throughout the country that was not ignorable. Women began to take authoritarian roles and believe in themselves, their experiences, challenges, and started to develop into formidable leaders. Equality was an important aspect that had to change in Chile that during Bachelet’s first term she began to select an equally gendered cabinet (Viñas, 2014). Females being pushed to the frontline created a new kind of leadership. The rise of Latin American female leaders was not a coincidence but a consequence.

From the beginning Pinochet’s government attacked its own people to gain information from leftists leaders and followers; they wanted names, meeting information, and knowledge on future plans. The women had to open their eyes and see that the men were being taken and tortured,

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