WOMEN AS LEADERS SERIES

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Gustavo Gonzalez

SANTIAGO, Mar 31 2000 (IPS) - Soledad Alvear, an attorney with a degree in economic development and a 49-year-old mother of three, has managed to breakthrough what was formerly regarded as a male stronghold.

She has been appointed the minister of Foreign Relations in the cabinet of Chile’s new president Ricardo Lagos – a post generally reserved for men.

In fact political analysts say that Alvear embodies change and that she may well become the first woman president in Chile’s history. ‘It is perfectly possible that she may become the first woman president in Chile’s history,ö says Christian Democrat Party, PDC, senator Jorge Pizarro.

He says Alvear embodies ‘a different leadership style that is powerful, novel, believable, respectable in its content and ready to take on the future.’

But for the moment Chile’s new foreign minister has important issues to deal with such as the full integration of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur), the renewal of political ties with Europe – damaged as a result of the ‘Pinochet case’ -, a decisive diplomatic role in opening the national economy and the conquest of new markets.

‘Chol,’ as she is known to her friends and family, has been an active member of the PDC since she was a student at the University of Chile. She served as consultant to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) until 1991, when president Patricio Aylwin (1990-1994) named her minister of the National Womens Service (SERNAM).

In SERNAM, Alvear initiated the nations Equal Opportunity Plan and pushed through other programmes to improve the conditions for women in Chile, which have been characterised by low levels of political participation and inequalities on the professional arena.

On Mar 11, 1994, she became the minister of Justice under the Eduardo Frei government.

Public opinion polls gave Alvear the highest rating among Frei’s ministerial cast. On Dec 14, 1999, she resigned from her Justice post to become the executive director of the Lagos campaign for the presidential run-off vote held last January.

Political analysts say Alvear’s role in the campaign was key to Lagos’s January 16 victory over Joaquin Lavin, the rightist coalition candidate, by over 180,000 votes. The two had virtually tied in the first round of elections Dec 12.

The new foreign minister is married to legislative representative, Gutenberg Martinez, who is also an attorney as well as PDC president. In a recent interview with the ‘La Segunda’ daily, Alvear said: ‘If I had to live my life again, I would still choose ‘Gute’ as my husband. If there is one thing we agreed on when we met each other at the university and got married, it was to work on a lifetime together,” she said.

As a practising Catholic, “I have the grace of God in believing that matrimony is indissoluble, but that does not mean I do not accept that marriage is not a sacrament for many people like it is for me,” added the minister.

Alvear says she values the ongoing support she has received from her spouse and three children. “They have never said I work too much. On the contrary, they tell me I am a woman who has done important things for the country, and that gives me a great deal of comfort.”

“All that Gutenberg and I do in the political sphere may be publicly evaluated as good or bad, as can the fusion of our private and public lives,” said Alvear, who is a harsh critic of journalistic sensationalism.

She condemned the way the press treated an incident involving her 17-year-old son in February, in which he was attacked by a group of young people as he left a pub, leaving him with serious wounds that required his hospitalisation.

Some media outlets suggested that the boy ‘was involved with the wrong crowd,’ implying that the attack was the result of drug and alcohol use among other illicit activities, though such claims were later proven false.

“What is one to do in this country when rumours start to fly — get a certificate of good conduct to show to the media? Alvear wondered.

“I am concerned that one of the great costs of being a public figure is that horrors may be said about you publicly. Because they fear becoming a victim of this, many upstanding people are not willing to dedicate themselves to public service – and that is a shame.

WOMEN AS LEADERS SERIES

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Kintto Lucas

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WOMEN AS LEADERS SERIES

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Richel Dursin

JAKARTA, Mar 31 2000 (IPS) - Dita Indah Sari vividly recalls the events of July 8, 1996. She was leading a demonstration of about 20,000 workers in Surabaya, the capital of Indonesia’s East Java when she was beaten up and arrested by members of the army and the marine.
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WOMEN AS LEADERS SERIES

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Anil Netto

PENANG, Malaysia, Mar 31 2000 (IPS) - When a young woman stepped out from nowhere to contest last November’s general election as a candidate representing women’s groups, Malaysians sat up and took note.
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