Chile's Michelle Bachelet: Profile of the Latin American President, Politics

The presidential campaign of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has grabbed headlines in the United States, creating controversy among feminists and non-feminists alike about what characteristics of personality and of experience should be taken into consideration when selecting the best candidate for office. Many Americans may be completely unaware that similar dialogues and debates are also taking place in Chile, where a woman named Michelle Bachelet was elected the first female President of the Latin American country one year ago. The role of women in Latin American politics is a subject that is as interesting and as complex as the subject of women in U.S. politics. An analysis of five recent national and international news articles about Michelle Bachelet of Chlie and her first year in office reveals that many of the same problematic dichotomies that characterize U.S. discourse about women's participation in politics also plague Latin American politics. In fact, these limiting dichotomies threaten not only Bachelet's popularity, but her very presidency.

Michelle Bachelet was elected to the presidency of Chile in 2006, and her victory signaled a number of firsts for the country. Michelle Bachelet was a non-traditional candidate in almost every respect. In addition to the obvious fact that she is a woman, Michelle Bachelet is also a Socialist, a single mother, and an accomplished pediatrician; in short, she is a complicated bundle of contradictions, not unlike most human beings. Although the position of women in Latin American society is slowly reaching that of women in the United States in terms of public opinion about a woman's "place" in society, the fact that Michelle Bachelet is a woman in Latin America makes her rise to political prominence even more interesting and complicated. Not only is Michelle Bachelet a career woman, she is also balancing other traditional women's roles, such as being a mother.