In the context of the Day against Sexist Violence, the Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Antonia Orellana, referred to the progress made by the Government in terms of reparation for victims, as well as programs for caregivers. In addition, she also highlighted the importance of feminist movements and women’s rights.
This Friday, the Minister for Women, Antonia Orellana, assured that He has not been “surprised” by the machismo he has found in the institutions and assured that he was “prepared” for attacks from the right.
During an interview to EFE AgencyOrellana – journalist and activist – maintained that, as a government, “We knew that gender politics was going to be on the front line of the opposition”.
This is in the context that, Today, November 25, the Day against Sexist Violence is commemorated. This day, the feminist movement is expected to manifest itself in the streets with force.
It is worth mentioning that Antonia Orellana is considered the most influential Minister of Women in the history of the country. The feminist activist integrates mainly the “political committee” of President Boric, the former made up of more women than men.
In this regard, Orellana explained that the objective is “transversalizar” the fight for gender equality and impregnate the rest of the cabinet.
Reparation for victims of sexual violence
On the commemorative date, the minister explained that they will present measures that are related to the reparation for victims of sexual violence. In addition, the dissemination of the annual awareness campaign (either for victims of violence or those who exercise it).
On the other hand, he referred to “mainstreaming” as a process initiated in the 80’s, which considers the diversity of the population in the “public policy”.
“That it does not happen, as has traditionally happened, that women are left without access to services because their differences are not contemplated in the formulation,” he said.
In addition, he emphasized that this “does not depend on the will of the Government on duty.”
Regarding the progress that this process has made in the other ministries, Orellana assured that they are “taking big steps”.
“There are ministries that were already more advanced in their work, those that are traditionally associated with sectors where more women work, such as health or education,” he explained.
Likewise, he highlighted the progress in other sectors, arguing that “we are also taking great steps, for example, in Mining. A week ago the state Codelco announced the most ambitious plan in its history for women to reach 35% of the workforce“.
The expectations of the feminist communities are very high
Regarding the biggest challenge that has been presented to her in these 8 months, the activist indicated “the frustration of public policy times”.
In addition, he stressed that his priority is “to deal politically between the ideal normative norm and reality.” This, “considering that the expectations of the communities we come from are very high (feminists)”.
Similarly, she mentioned that the feminist movement is not satisfied. However, “yes we have taken important steps to initiate some long-term issues“, he stressed.
In this line, he exemplified as “the first step” the implementation of the National Registry of Alimony Debtorswhich came into effect on November 21.
“The organizations of women caregivers know that the care system is not something that is built in a year, not even four,” she reiterated.
However, he specified that “last Monday we took the first step by implementing a national registry that will allow us to know who the caregivers are in Chile, which we estimate should be around 600,000“.
After being consulted by the “care system” that they plan to build, explained that “it is raised from the perspective of creating public capacity to support care“.
Orellana: “We were prepared for the attacks”
On the other hand, regarding the situation of “institutional machismo”Orellana said she was not surprised with the atmosphere present in the ministry. “I always expect the worst”he assured.
In this regard, he maintained that, regarding the rejection of feminism by right-wing parties, he accused that these “they act according to the script coordinated with the Spanish, Brazilian right… we were prepared for that”.
After being consulted for Women’s Rights and the rejection of the Magna Carta proposed in September – considered one of the largest feminist constitutions in the world -, she pointed out that movements are persistent.
“I do not see that the (feminist) mobilization is going to stop due to an electoral defeat”highlighted the activist.
Finally, regarding abortion, he emphasized that “that depends on Congress.” “Democracy is always much more complicated than desire,” he concluded.