Stay with us as we unveil the journeys of those exceptional ladies, their victories, their struggles, and the affect they’re creating in shaping a extra equitable world. This isn’t only a story of political success; it’s a celebration of feminine empowerment and a name to motion for gender equality. Don’t miss out on this enlightening journey into the lives of ladies who are usually not solely main but additionally reworking the political panorama within the Caribbean!
Globally, the presence of ladies in politics continues to be removed from being just like that of males. Women’s equal participation and management in political and social life are important to realize a good, extra sustainable world; but information present that ladies are underrepresented in any respect ranges of decision-making worldwide and that attaining gender parity in political life is way off.
UN Women is the United Nations entity devoted to gender equality and the empowerment of ladies, established to speed up progress in assembly their wants worldwide. Data compiled by UN Women in 2023 present a really uneven stability between women and men in politics worldwide. For occasion, ladies signify 22.8% of Cabinet members heading Ministries, and solely 26.5% of parliamentarians in single or decrease homes are ladies. Interestingly, the 5 mostly held portfolios by ladies Cabinet Ministers are Women and gender equality, adopted by Family and Children affairs, Social inclusion and Development, social safety and social safety, and Indigenous and minority affairs.
Regional variations are additionally famous, as ladies’s illustration in native deliberative our bodies in Latin America and the Caribbean, is all the way down to 27% with solely sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia, and Northern Africa, decrease than us. Women maintain 36% of parliamentary seats in Latin America and the Caribbean, a a lot increased proportion than sub-Saharan Africa (26%), Eastern and South-Eastern Asia (22%), or Northern Africa and Western Asia (18%).
Only six nations on the planet have 50 % or extra ladies in parliament in single or decrease homes, and one in all them is Cuba, with 53%.
While a lot work continues to be wanted to realize gender equality, the lively participation of ladies within the world political panorama is significant to fulfilling the potential of democracy.
This is especially true within the Caribbean and Latin America, the place, on common, 22% of ministerial portfolios/cupboard positions are held by ladies. In the anglophone Caribbean, ladies don’t maintain greater than 30% of elected positions, aside from Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
Today, we’re highlighting 10 of probably the most highly effective ladies in politics all through the Caribbean area. We dream to see extra rise to energy within the coming years and contribute to much-needed gender equality and the achievement of precedence targets together with ending violence in opposition to ladies, partaking ladies in all facets of safety processes, and growing ladies’s management and participation.
So, let’s dive in… Here are 10 of probably the most highly effective ladies in politics within the Caribbean at the moment.
#10. Lisa Hanna, Member of Parliament Saint Ann Southeast Constituency, Jamaica
While she rose to reputation due to her election as Miss World in 1993, Lisa Hanna is now a member of the opposition People’s National Party in Jamaica. She is at present serving her fourth time period as a Member of Parliament for the Saint Ann South-East constituency and served as Minister of Youth and Culture from 2012 to 2016. Jamaicans are nonetheless keen on her attributable to her magnificence title, as she was the third Jamaican to ever be topped Miss World after Carole Crawford (1969) and Cindy Breakspeare (1973).
Lisa Hanna is a passionate activist; nevertheless, she doesn’t have an enormous success document in politics, because the latest 23% decline in assist in her constituency highlights.
#9. Silveria Jacobs, Prime Minister of Sint Maarten
Sint Maarten’s Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs has a background in schooling. She labored as a main faculty trainer after which pupil coordinator for 19 years. Towards the tip of her academic profession, she joined the National Alliance and began serving as Minister of Education, Youth, Sport and Culture from 2012 to 2013 and once more from 2015 to 2018. In 2018 she was the primary lady to be elected chief of the National Alliance.
In 2019 the NA allied with The United St Maarten Party and Governor Eugene Holiday appointed Jacobs to steer the interim Cabinet. Her second time period as Prime Minister began on March 28, 2020.
#8. Marcella Liburd, Governor-General of St Kitts and Nevis
Dame Marcella Althea Liburd, GCMG and JP, is a Kittitian politician serving because the fifth governor-general of Saint Kitts and Nevis, since February 1st, 2023. Born in 1953, she skilled as a trainer after which as a barrister and solicitor. She was the primary lady to function each the Speaker of the National Assembly of Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Governor-General. On her path to her present position, she has served in varied Ministerial positions together with Acting Prime Minister and Chair of the Opposition for the Labor Party. She was the primary lady to function Chair within the get together’s historical past.
#7. Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Education of Trinidad and Tobago
After acquiring her bachelor’s diploma in Analytical Chemistry, a Post-Graduate Diploma in Educational Technology, and her Doctoral diploma in Organic Chemistry, Dr. Nyan Elizabeth Gadsby-Dolly served as an educator for 11 years after which labored as a Senior Lecturer at COSTAATT for six years. She was then elected Member of Parliament for St. Ann’s East in 2015 and served as Minister of Community Development, Culture, and the Arts within the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago from 2015 to 2020. During this time, she additionally chaired the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights, Equality, and Diversity. On August 19, 2020, she was appointed the Minister of Education of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, a put up she nonetheless holds at the moment.
An avid reader and researcher, she is a real inspiration to the youthful generations of Trinidadian ladies.
#6. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers, Minister of Education and Social Development, Anguilla
An attorney-at-law, Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers shouldn’t be solely Anguilla’s Minister of Education and Social Development but additionally an achieved athlete who represented her nation on the Commonwealth Games in 2010 and 2014. She was topped Miss Anguilla in 2017 and Miss Universe Great Britain in 2018, the primary black lady to obtain such a nomination.
In 2020, she was elected to the Anguillan Parliament, changing into the youngest particular person ever elected to the House of Assembly, as she was solely 27. In February 2022, aged 29, she served as performing Premier for 10 days, changing into the youngest particular person to serve within the place within the nation’s historical past.
In protest of the federal government’s choices about GST, Kentish-Rogers later resigned from the federal government, a real instance of a lady who stands by her ideas. She was ultimately reappointed one week later.
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#5. Carla Nathalie Barnett, Secretary General of CARICOM, Belize
On August 1, 2021, Carla Natalie Barnett turned the eighth Secretary-General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) by unanimous appointment of the Conference of Heads of Government of CARICOM.
This was doable due to her over 30 years {of professional} expertise within the Region, together with having served as Deputy Secretary-General on the CARICOM Secretariat, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Belize, Financial Secretary of the Government of Belize, and Vice President, Operations on the Caribbean Development Bank, blazing a path as the primary lady appointed in these positions.
She is a constant advocate for gender equality pretty much as good financial coverage and because the proper path for a extra equitable society. Dr. Barnett has acquired a number of awards, together with Commander of the British Empire for distinguished public service.
#4. Juliana O’Connor-Connelly, Premier of Cayman Islands
Premier and Minister for Finance, Education, District Administration, Lands and Cabinet Office, the Honorable Juliana Yvonne O’Connor-Connolly was elected to the Legislative Assembly (now Parliament) for the primary time in November 1996 to signify the District of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, changing into this fashion the primary woman to signify that district within the Legislative Assembly.
She then turned Cayman’s first feminine Minister in 1997 and served till 2000 because the Minister of Community Affairs, Sports, Women, Youth, and Culture.
She was a member of Cabinet from 2009 to 2013, then Speaker of the House from 2013 to 2017, and served as Minister for Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture and Lands from 2017 to early 2021.
Now in her seventh consecutive time period as a Member of Parliament, Mrs. O’Connor-Connolly is the longest-serving feminine member and the primary lady to grow to be Deputy Premier and Premier of the Cayman Islands.
#3. Christine Kangaroo, President-Elect of Trinidad and Tobago
62-years outdated Christine Carla Kangaloo prides herself on a stellar political profession in Trinidad and Tobago, which in 2001, noticed her grow to be a Member of Parliament as an opposition senator, then the primary lady Vice President of the Senate, and once more Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister in 2002.
She was then appointed Minister of Legal Affairs in 2005, elected to the House of Representatives for the People’s National Movement in 2007, and served as Minister of Science, Technology and Tertiary Education. In 2015 she was elected President of the Senate, changing into the one particular person to ever function each President and Vice President within the nation. She resigned from the place solely to run for President of Trinidad and Tobago, which she was elected on March 20th, 2023: the second lady to function President in her stunning Caribbean nation.
#2. Sandra Mason, 1st President of Barbados
Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, class 1949, is a Barbadian politician, lawyer, and diplomat who has been serving as the primary president of Barbados since 2021.
Prior to this, she was the eighth and remaining governor-general of Barbados from 2018 to 2021, the second lady to carry the workplace. On 20 October 2021, Mason was elected by the Parliament of Barbados to grow to be the nation’s first president and took workplace on 30 November 2021, when Barbados ceased to be a constitutional monarchy and became a republic.
She was really the one, in 2020, to ship the information that Barbados would become a republic, abolishing the Barbadian monarchy.
#1. Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados
The so-called “Prime Minster of the Caribbean”, Mia Amor Mottley, is with none doubt probably the most highly effective and acknowledged lady in politics in our area. Her involvement within the welfare of her nation has no comparability and her profession has been constellated with successes and information. The Prime Minister of Barbados has been, as a matter of truth, the primary feminine chief of the Barbados Labor Party and the Opposition and the primary feminine Attorney General.
Mottley was additionally the youngest ever Queen’s Counsel in Barbados. On May 25, 2018, Mottley turned the eighth Prime Minister of Barbados, and the primary lady to carry the distinguished title.
The full and equal participation in all spheres of the political lifetime of the Caribbean actuality is really basic to its sustainability and welfare. With the present thresholds to this point beneath the worldwide common, it’s important to grasp that extra effort have to be made to make sure ladies are represented throughout all sectors of the political lifetime of our area. This will contribute to the success of our nations, and a greater imaginative and prescient of ladies basically. The latest appointments of among the ladies we simply noticed signify large strides in direction of higher gender equality in our political and civic life, showcasing the nice talents of ladies on this sector and contributing to a brand new notion of ladies, which provides our women and younger ladies an inspiration to realize increased targets of their lives.
As our journey with the Top 10 most influential ladies in Caribbean politics involves an finish, let’s carry their spirit of resilience and alter into our personal lives. These exceptional ladies remind us that with dedication and braveness, we will all play an element in shaping a fairer, extra inclusive world.
If this story has impressed you, hold the momentum going. Support, advocate, and be the change you want to see. Your voice issues within the steady combat for gender equality in politics and past.
Check out this video on 10 of The Most Powerful and Influential Caribbean Women In The Diaspora Globally
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