President and First Lady commemorate International Women’s Day and highlight the progress made towards gender equality: “To defend women’s dignity is to defend Chile’s dignity and the dignity of everyone”
Measures include laws to create a national registry of alimony debtors, telematic monitoring of abusers, and the criminalization of sexual harassment in public spaces.
Chile’s President Sebastián Piñera and First Lady Cecilia Morel commemorated International Women’s Day on Tuesday, and highlighted the progress made in promoting women’s rights and gender equality.
The work carried out by the Women and Gender Equity Ministry has focused on three main areas: promoting equal rights, duties, and opportunities; zero tolerance for violence against women; and promoting women’s economic autonomy and co-responsibility.
“Now is a good time to recognize, appreciate, and thank the valuable and fruitful contribution that women make every day for the betterment of our nation,” the President said during a ceremony at La Moneda Palace. He was accompanied by Women and Gender Equity Minister Mónica Zalaquett, secretaries of state, parliamentarians, and civil society representatives.
First Lady Cecilia Morel added, “The deepest feeling that I have for all the women of Chile has to do with our right and duty to ourselves, to defend our freedom, which, as we have seen throughout history, is not guaranteed. I am convinced that this defence, which will surely be different for each of us, will help us move forward and dream of a Chile that is freer, fairer, and more egalitarian every day.”
Some of the laws put in place by the current Government include the creation of a national registry of alimony debtors, the incorporation of telematic monitoring of abusers, the criminalization of sexual harassment in public spaces, the end of second-marriage discrimination for women, and the right to breastfeed in public.
“We have placed the gender agenda at the heart of all our public policies, and we have made great progress; but it is also true that we still have a long way to go,” the President said.
President Piñera also highlighted the measures taken in the fight against COVID-19 that were specially focused on women. They include: the Ley de Crianza Protegida (Protected Upbringing Law), which benefits parents and caregivers of preschool-age children; the Subsidio Protege (Protect Subsidy), which provides 200,000 Chilean pesos (US$250) per month per child to parents who care for children under two years of age and do not have access to childcare benefit from their employers; and the Employment Protection Law and the Labor IFE, which have placed a special focus on creating job opportunities for women.
“The fight for women’s rights belongs to all men and women of good will, because to defend women’s dignity is to defend Chile’s dignity and the dignity of everyone,” President Piñera concluded.