With an emotional and massive ceremony at the Melinka Public Library, the Regional Director of the National Service for Women and Gender Equality (SernamEG), Patricia Baeza Cabezas, and Mayor Marcos Silva Miranda, celebrated with the neighbors the launch of the Women Heads of Household Program, which is implemented for the first time in the commune of Guaitecas this 2024.
«We know the geographical characteristics of our region and, therefore, we also know that it often limits the opportunities of women throughout the territory to access these programs. That is why today we are very happy to be able to be here with an important group of women who are already enrolled in this program, where they will be able to advance in terms of economic autonomy, whether dependent or independent, in the commune of Guaitecas,” said the Director of SernamEG.
Indeed, this programmatic intervention, which is being carried out for the first time in the commune, through an agreement between the Illustrious Municipality of Guaitecas and the National Service for Women and Gender Equality, has as its central objective to contribute to the strengthening of economic autonomy of women heads of household, through the delivery of a set of tools that allow them to generate and manage their own income and resources.
«Of course, each agreement, each milestone, that is marked in the commune of Guaitecas is a sign of joy for us, because the commitment, work and persistence of being able to bring programs such as Jefas de Hogar is also reflected. I understand that for the first time it is in the communes of Tortel and Guaitecas, from end to end, therefore that is also appreciated, because we are taking a look at the extreme communes,” stressed Mayor Marcos Silva.
The current administration of SernamEG Aysén set out as its mission to bring the programmatic offering of the service to territories where it had not reached before. In this way, the service today has agreements signed with six of the ten municipalities in the region, including geographically remote communes such as O’Higgins, Tortel and now Guaitecas.
«I was applying for many years and I finally managed to get this. And what an important milestone too, for us as mothers, heads of households, women, to have these authorities here. As the director said, she talks about the empowerment of women, about how she is also going to help us in economic issues. My impulse is as a woman and as a mother, I feel that the family drives one to want to pursue her dreams,” said Talía Saldivia, Melinka’s neighbor and beneficiary of the Women Heads of Household Program.
