The president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, together with his partner, Irina Karamanos, in the first presidential speech, Santiago.Alberto Valdes (EFE)
Feminist anthropologist and political scientist Irina Karamanos, 32, girlfriend of Chilean President Gabriel Boric, assumed the role of first lady last March with the commitment to reformulate and depersonalize that figure.
This week it was made public that on March 30, through a resolution, the First Lady's Cabinet was renamed the Irina Karamanos Cabinet and expanded its functions.
The progressive government backed down in less than 24 hours since the controversy broke out after receiving an avalanche of criticism from different political sectors.
The right-wing Independent Democratic Union (UDI) party took the case to the Comptroller's Office, requesting that it rule on the legality of the resolution.
La Moneda described the matter as an "administrative error" and Boric tried this Friday to settle the issue.
"He is absolutely overcome, corrected, and the disposition and the work that Irina is carrying out is what was pointed out in the campaign," he assured.
Karamanos's office refused this newspaper's request for an interview.
“I am neither first nor lady.
In that sense, I think that we have to get out of that conservative and classist term,” Karamanos said in an interview a few days after taking office, arousing greater interest in the turnaround it would give him.
The amended resolution established that, among its functions, it could "identify, propose and coordinate strategic guidelines and programmatic definitions for public policies in order to contribute to the eradication of inequality and discrimination of historically excluded groups, with an intersectional approach, rights human and gender perspective.
The Government reported on Wednesday the replacement of the name of the Irina Karamanos Cabinet, which had registered an Internet domain, by the Sociocultural Coordination of the Presidency.
The functions established for the position, which is not defined, regulated, or paid —as in most democracies—, also underwent modifications.
For example, the coordination and programmatic definitions of public policies were eliminated, one of the points that sparked the most criticism in the opposition for considering that it could influence the Executive.
María de los Ángeles Fernández, a doctor in Political Science and president of the Hay Mujeres Foundation, blames the “big blunder” on the “lack of experience”.
“It is not the only administrative error that the Government commits in its short walk.
The risk is that, if everything starts to be an administrative error, you start to lose credibility”.
She points out that the first ladies who have preceded Karamanos have advanced in public policies through deeds, not by decree.
For example, the former first lady Cecilia Morel, wife of Sebastián Piñera, promoted the program Choose to Live Healthy, focused on combating malnutrition.
“But Irina declared it and she cannot get around the regular channels of Congress,” adds Fernández.
Before assuming the leadership of the six foundations of the sociocultural network of the Presidency that correspond to the role of the first lady, Karamanos was in charge of the feminist front of the Social Convergence party, where Boric is a member, and worked at the Procultura Foundation, dedicated to generate development opportunities in isolated territories.
Fernández assures that she was positively struck by the fact that Karamanos wanted to reformulate the position based on gender equality.
“I thought that she was going to continue working in the foundation, that she would accompany the president when she required it on specific issues, but that she would continue to have her personal and professional sovereignty.
But it has not been like that, ”says the political scientist.
For Carolina Guerrero, a doctor in Political Science and author of research focused on first ladies, the modification of the name and abitrusion was a "mistake."
“The problem with stating that the position was going to be reformed was that expectations were generated that it was going to fulfill a completely different role and until now they are just seeing what is in the office and then thinking about some changes,” she explains.
The researcher associated with the GIGA Institute for Latin American Studies in Germany points out that the role of the first lady has been questioned from the beginning by a part of feminism by saying that it is a job of "being the wife of", and therefore not should exist.
"The second alternative," Guerrero says, "is to transform it, include the feminist perspective and interministerial coordination without overlapping the work."
However, the political scientist adds that it is too early to make an assessment of Karamanos' work.
"I imagine that the program will start to be seen a little later," she adds.
In the three and a half months that the new Administration has been in office, Karamanos has dedicated his efforts to increasing transparency and decentralization in the presidential foundations he leads, and has carried a strong agenda on issues related to indigenous peoples.
The anthropologist has set up work groups to promote linguistic rights and rights of LGTBI people.
The latter, in coordination with the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity.
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