from its beginnings in the s as the council for equality between men and women it functioned as an executive commission but with a small staff of between five and eight employees it was relocated from the prime minister s office to the ministry of social affairs and health farther removed from central decision making but received statutory responsibility for proposing gender equality reforms this facilitated more successful intervention in prostitution debates job training and political representation world bank chile s national service for women sernam benefitted from a chair with ministerial status in this case the gender institution s leadership along with a sectorspecific approach to gender mainstreaming improved its capacity to influence intersectoral dialogue with line ministries and the national gender institution advocated successfully for legislation on domestic violence and gender discrimination including childcare for seasonal day workers and maternity leave for domestic employees