People see I am a mother and head of a household. Today in Chile, one-third of households are run by women. They wake up, take the children to school, go to work. To them I am hope.

Chile needs to unite behind the goals of reducing poverty and creating more equal opportunities so that everyone can benefit from what the country has to offer.

We have had scarce investment in women... One of my tasks is that everyone spends much more on women.

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

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.

I was a woman, a divorcee, a socialist, an agnostic . . . all possible sins together.

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