Can an unwed mother lead a macho, Catholic country?

last updated 8 January 2015

Chile

Viva Michelle Bachelet! said Chile’s Diario La Estrella in an editorial. All of Chile is congratulating itself on having elected a truly remarkable woman as president. Bachelet is not like most of us. In this overwhelmingly Catholic country, she is a single mother and an agnostic. In a country with few female politicians, she has served as health minister and as defense minister. Her victory may continue the reign of the center-left, but it shows that Chile has undergone “a real change in mentality.” Our culture of “machismo” no longer denigrates “the so-called weaker sex.” Now Bachelet will have to live up to the trust the people have placed in her when she takes office in March. It won’t be easy. She’s already faced condescension from some of her future colleagues. Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, for example, congratulated her by saying she would bring “the lovely perfume of woman” to Mercosur, the regional trade organization. “No, señor.” This national leader has much more than perfume to offer—“she has intelligence, value, and discipline.”

This breakthrough is about more than gender, said Argentina’s Clarín in an editorial. Bachelet’s victory “is also a sign of hope for the whole region,” showing that it’s possible to decisively reject the repression of the past. Bachelet was tortured for her socialist views under the vile regime of Augusto Pinochet, and her father, an air force commander, was tortured to death. By electing someone who suffered so directly under the old regime, Chile has set a new standard for “political renewal.” Chileans have learned the “hard lessons of history” and are serious about constructing “a different future.” Even the right-wing opposition is doing its part. Gracious in defeat, rightist candidate Sebastián Piñera has demonstrated “a maturity and moderation” virtually unheard of in Latin American politics. May other countries follow Chile’s lead.