Michelle Bachelet quotes

Michelle Bachelet is a Chilean politician and physician who served as the President of Chile for two non-consecutive terms. A champion of social justice and gender equality, she also became the first Executive Director of UN Women and later the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. She is recognized internationally for her leadership in advancing human rights and promoting progressive reforms. Here are 56 of her quotes:

Having experienced personally and through my family the tragedy of Chile is something always present in my memory. I do not want events of that nature ever to happen again, and I have dedicated an important part of my life to ensuring that and to the reunion of all Chileans.

Michelle Bachelet

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.

Michelle Bachelet

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

Michelle Bachelet

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 equality and women's empowerment bring huge economic benefits.

Michelle Bachelet

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 have mandatory military service in Chile. I pushed for women in all areas.

Michelle Bachelet

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

Michelle Bachelet

For me, a better democracy is a democracy where women do not only have the right to vote and to elect but to be elected.

Michelle Bachelet

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.

Michelle Bachelet

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.

Michelle Bachelet

In today's interdependent world, a threat to one becomes a menace to all. And no state can defeat these challenges and threats alone.

Michelle Bachelet

The United Nations should become a proactive agent in the dissemination of democratic principles.

Michelle Bachelet

I took a gamble to exercise leadership without losing my feminine nature.

Michelle Bachelet

I am a woman with a calling for social struggle and public service.

Michelle Bachelet

You all want to know what is my dream? Very simple. To walk along the beach, holding the hand of my lover.

Michelle Bachelet

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 neoliberal economic model anymore. We have put in place a lot of policies that will ensure that economic growth goes hand in hand with social justice.

Michelle Bachelet

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

Michelle Bachelet

I was not born in a home where there were stereotypes. So that was very useful because it gave me the sense of possibilities, of flying, if I may say, of making my hopes and dreams a reality.

Michelle Bachelet

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.

Michelle Bachelet

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, economic recovery, health, or peace and security, the participation of women is needed now more than ever.

Michelle Bachelet

You have to be doing things that matter - responsibility, but also responsibility with epic and beautiful and noble tasks.

Michelle Bachelet

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 food security, to the children, to the family, or to the community, so when women have an income, everybody wins.

Michelle Bachelet

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 doctor.' Now, they tell me, 'I want to be president just like you.' All of us can dream as big as we want.

Michelle Bachelet