Las mujeres prisioneras en el Estadio Nacional fueron recluidas primero junto con los hombres en los camarines del coliseo central, para luego de ser trasladadas el 26 de septiembre al sector de la piscina. Había dos camarines, el sur y el norte, y ambos fueron utilizados para mantener a las detenidas, tanto chilenas como extranjeras.

Según la versión del ex director de la DINA, Manuel Contreras, en el Estadio Nacional fueron detenidas 509 mujeres: 445 chilenas y 64 extranjeras, principalmente brasileñas, uruguayas, bolivianas y argentinas. En cambio, los cálculos de las propias detenidas indican que el número de mujeres prisioneras llegaría a las 1.200.

Algunas diferencias de su reclusión con respecto a la de los hombres, consistían en que las detenidas contaban con un colchón para dormir en el suelo, junto con tener mejor acceso a duchas, ubicadas en el subterráneo, condiciones que no atenuaban la terrible situación. Según ellas mismas han podido relatar posteriormente, para dormir juntaban las colchonetas y dormían prácticamente en filas para abrigarse.

Durante el día, mientras los hombres eran dejados en las graderías, las mujeres quedaban en la piscina. Desde ahí podían ver la entrada de ingreso de avenida Grecia, donde sus familiares se encontraban apostados durante horas, todos los días, con la esperanza de verlas, tener contacto con ellas o hacerles llegar alimentos, abrigos o recados a través de militares. Había prisioneras quienes también tenían a sus parejas o maridos detenidos en el estadio, con quienes algunas pocas veces se les permitió encontrarse en el sector de la piscina.

Among the detainees at the National Stadium were also women. Workers, students, housewives; women of different ages and social classes.

The female prisoners were first confined in the dressing rooms of the central coliseum, but on September 26 they were transferred to the pool area. There were two dressing rooms, south and north, and both were used to hold the detainees, Chileans and foreigners. Unlike what happened with men, women were provided with a mattress to sleep on the floor and had better access to showers, located in the basement. To sleep, they would join the mattresses and sleep practically in rows to keep warm.

According to the former director of DINA (Pinochet’s secret police), Manuel Contreras, 509 women were detained at the National Stadium: 445 Chileans and 64 foreigners, mainly Brazilians, Uruguayans, Bolivians, and Argentinians. However, the most realistic estimates from the detainees themselves approached  political detainees would have reached 1,200, including Chileans and foreigners.

Some of the women had their partners or husbands also detained in the stadium. During the day, while men were left in the bleachers, women stayed in the pool area. From there, they could see the entrance on Grecia Avenue, where their families were every day with the hope of seeing them, having contact with them, or passing things to them through military personnel. 

The treatment, abuse, and torture of detainees were likely worse simply because they were women. The female prisoners faced constant harassment from military and police officers, often with a sexual connotation.

Despite violence, as many of them have been able to relate, the stadium, redefined as a detention and torture center, was also a space for collective resistance against pain, which allowed them to continue with their lives even after confinement.