All boys and girls should have the opportunity to receive a high-quality education, no matter what part of the country they live in and irrespective of whether their parents are rich or poor. It is the state's duty to make sufficient money available for the establishment of good public schools. A well-educated youth is crucial so that Chile can continue to grow economically.

The challenge is for us to reinvigorate the relationship with the Chilean people and to give state institutions new legitimacy. But this is also a universal phenomenon. There's also disenchantment with politics in Europe.

I'm working for the women in the world, today; that's my essential issue.

Having been a head of state gives you the possibility of getting into places others can't go.

As more and more women, men and young people raise their voices and become active in local government, and more local leaders take action for the safety of women and girls, change happens.

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.

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.