Chile today is a product of the wrenching political, social, cultural, and economic projects of the last forty years. The Chilean experience has ranged from the leftist government of Salvador Allende in the early 1970s, to the military dictatorship of General Pinochet in the 70s and 80s, to the post-dictatorial Concertación government of today. Perhaps ironically, the Pinochet dictatorship had the most profound impact on gender relations; its legacy influences many of the tensions that define Chilean women’s lives today.