They came from all over Chile on election night in January: from affluent neighbourhoods, marginal areas, middle-class districts; they were students, workers, professionals, housewives; young and old; mothers, grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters. They wore across their chests the presidential sash, made by their own hands the afternoon of the electoral victory or bought from vendors on the street for less than $2. Their message was very clear: with a female elected president leading Chile for the first time, all of them felt that they were part of the government.

Their simple, poignant gesture makes me twice as committed to them and to all the women of Chile. Women worked on my presidential campaign so that I could represent them and protect their interests; because they know that I have lived and continue to live as one of them. But this solidarity was certainly not their only motivation. As with the men who elected me, these women expect inclusive, original, consistent and consensus-based public policies. They also expect a new style of government: demanding yet accessible.