Chilean Women Make Gains Under Bachelet

Chile's President Michelle Bachelet speaks during the International Women's Day celebration at La Moneda government palace in Santiago, Thursday, March 8, 2007. Chile's first female president celebrated Women's Day by assuring that politics has changed for good as she nears the one-year mark of a term that has brought new opportunities for her countrywomen. (AP Photo/Santiago Llanquin) (Santiago Llanquin - AP)

The latter, enacted by presidential decree, met stiff resistance from conservatives and the Roman Catholic Church. Chile is considered politically liberal but socially conservative. It flatly bans abortion and legalized divorce only in 2004.

Some conservative mayors have refused to let their city health services distribute the morning-after pill, including Pablo Zalaquet of La Florida, near Santiago, who called Bachelet's decree "a black day for our country, a slap to the institution of family."

Bachelet, the only South American woman to have won the presidency without riding the coattails of a powerful husband, seeks to improve women's standing in society in a permanent way, says Women's Affairs Minister Laura Albornoz.

"We are undertaking changes that will probably not be totally apparent during this government, but later on," she told The Associated Press.

Albornoz acknowledged that Chilean women still face domestic violence and discrimination at work.

Lydia Alvarez, who works at homes for the elderly, said she has been turned down twice for jobs because she refused to have a pregnancy test.

Such a request is illegal but common, women say.

"They tell you they are not supposed to ask for the test, but they do anyway," Alvarez said. "If you're pregnant, goodbye!"

Women have also targeted Chile's law on domestic violence. Soledad Granados, who is working on the campaign, estimates that the average domestic violence case takes seven years to reach a court.

Another goal is more jobs for women. Their average work participation in Chile is just 37.5 percent, compared with 47 percent for Latin America.

And women hold only 12 percent of seats in Congress. Bachelet is preparing a bill to make political parties reserve 30 percent of their slate of candidates in congressional and municipal elections for women.

Whether the bill will get through the male-dominated Congress remains to be seen. But already, the gains women have made in Bachelet's first year are undeniable, said Virginia Guzman, a psychologist and sociologist with the Center for Studies of Women Affairs.

"There is general feeling among women of having developed a greater personal value," she said.