Michelle Bachelet

Chilean politician and medical doctor, first woman president of that country, a former political exile.

A socialist, she won 53% of the vote in January 2006 to become President of Chile.

Her dad was in the air force, rising to the rank of general. Her mother was a housewife who became an archaeologist. Because of her father's military career, the family moved around quite a lot during her childhood, including a stint in the US where Michelle learned English.

She went to medical school in Chile and joined the Socialist Party. Her father was jailed after Pinochet led the coup that overthrew the Allende government in 1973. Her dad was tortured and died in jail about six months later, in March 1974. She and her mother were subsequently held in one of Pinochet's secret prisons where she was subjected to torture. An American relative and military man lobbied for their release, and, in 1975, they went into exile to Australia, later to East Germany. While in exile, she married a fellow exile, Jorge Davalos, an architect. They had two children and divorced in the mid-1980s. She gave birth to her third child, Sofia, after she had an affair with a doctor.

In 1979 she returned to Chile and landed a job in a clinic. In the early 1990s, she became an adviser to the Ministry of Health and a few years later enrolled strategic studies program at the national war college. Subsequently she began to work in the Defense Ministry, the beginning of her political career.In 2000 she became Minister of Health and on January 15, 2006 she was elected President of the country.

She is the President of Chile since 11 March 2014. She previously served as President from 2006 to 2010, becoming the first woman in her country to do so. After leaving the presidency, she was appointed the first executive director of the newly created United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women).