Interview ‘Don’t try to be superwomen’ Michelle Bachelet was recently appointed United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She previously served as president of her home country Chile and, prior to that, as minister of defence, the first woman to hold these offices. If she had one word of advice for young people looking to enter politics, it would be, ‘Don’t try to be too perfect and don’t lose your sense of humour.’ Interview: Friederike Bauer A round the world, more and more women are being ap- pointed to high political of- fices. Where are we in terms of equal power-sharing? I like to make an analogy to football: leaving women out of society is like playing a game with half of the team – that team is always at a disadvantage. However, it is still a struggle to be a woman in politics. is happened to me in Chile, but it also occurs around the world; just look at the last presidential cam- paign in the USA and some of the sexist comments about Hillary Clinton. One is confronted with lies about many different topics. Nonetheless, these costs are nothing in comparison with the satisfaction of see- ing how you can help improve people's lives. When women are in power, do they gov- ern differently? If one woman enters politics, the woman changes. If many women enter, politics change. In Chile, for example, we have had a female president of the Senate, female presidents of political parties and trade un- ions and female leaders in education in re- ) 2 3 . P ( A P D / P A / G I N E W H T E S : O T O H P cent years. We have, indeed, seen positive changes. For example, Chileans today value masculine and feminine leadership in the same way, as shown by a recent UNDP re- port. Less than a decade ago, 38 per cent of citizens still believed that men were better political leaders than women. Are female politicians generally more social and less corrupt – or is that just a positive prejudice? I honestly don’t know if that is true, but I suspect it is what you call ‘a positive preju- dice’. Some of the most common stereo- types are that women are less selfish, more charitable and altruistic or that they have stronger values. Having said that, I did once read a report that said that in democracies, where corruption tends to be stigmatised to a higher degree than in other forms of gov- ernment, women disapprove of corruption more than men, and are less likely to engage in corrupt practices. Are women judged according to the same criteria as their male counterparts? I continuously see clear biases against women. Women are often analysed accord- ing to criteria that are not even relevant. For example, a Danish prime minister once told me that, during her campaign, the press was more interested in analysing the size of her handbag than the content of the agenda she was trying to set. But what’s most dramatic is that many women themselves do not see the difference. At the World Economic Fo- rum in Davos, for example, I met with busi- nesswomen who said: ‘I am where I am be- cause I am good at my job, not because I am a woman.’ And I answered: ‘I was president of Chile because I am good at my job – de- spite being a woman.’ What ‘golden advice’ would you give young women looking to enter politics? Don’t try to be superwomen, because it will only lead to frustration. Instead, seek the help of someone you can count on. Be asser- tive, but also learn the art of dialogue. Also, do not let your guard down; keep your eyes and ears open. Listen, look, but above all, act when necessary, with courage and gener- osity. at is politics: a permanent work in progress, in which women must participate. And, of course you should always try to keep your sense of humour! — akzente 4/18 33