Speaking at a summit of elected women representatives here, Bachelet said that women's economic empowerment was the area where more insight and innovation are required.
"Paradigm shift to a more holistic approach to livelihood and women's empowerment is necessary for sustainable development in India and South Asia and we hope to build a deeper understanding on the issue," Bachelet, the UN Under Secretary General said.
Advocating gender equality and women's empowerment, she said if all work together, goals can be achieved and vision realised.
"I am an ardent supporter of temporary special measures such as quota for supporting women's equal participation," she said.
"With the exception of Bhutan, the youngest democracy in the world, all other South Asian countries have promoted women's political participation through the system of reserved seats in legislatures and local councils.
"In that sense, the experiment has been successful," she pointed out.
Bachelet said that UN Women's programme on women's political leadership and governance reaches half a million women, and it focuses on research, training and capacity building and knowledge sharing.
