REFLECTIONS ON WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN
REFLECTIONS ON WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP AND EMPOWERMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN Over three days in Barbados from 25 to 27 April 2022, women from various Parliaments in the Caribbean, as well as members of civil society, gathered to look at women’s leadership and social transformation in the Caribbean. Funded by the Australian Government and organised through the collaboration of the Commonwealth Secretariat, UN Women and Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL), the workshop followed a previous meeting in 2018 which looked at gender equality and barriers to women’s political leadership. Having been restricted mostly to virtual seminars, workshops and webinars over the past 2 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic and to now meet persons whom for the most part have been interacting virtually was in itself a welcomed opportunity. The workshop offered the space to share experiences and discuss the issues of women’s participation and leadership especially given the many examples of women’s leadership in managing the pandemic, the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on women and the slight increase in women’s political participation with the results of elections held across the Caribbean during the pandemic. While there has been some progress in the CPA Caribbean, Atlantic and the Americas Region, with increased representation of women in Parliament and at decision making levels of governance, it is acknowledged there is still much more that needs to be done as women remain underrepresented. Amidst this backdrop, the workshop provided the space for focused discussions and sharing of experiences on good governance and transformational leadership, political and parliamentary work, gender equality in parliamentary processes and functions, engaging men as allies, and creating international and intra-regional partnerships. One of the practical recommendations that stood out was the call and request by Parliamentarians present for gender sensitization training for MPs/Senators and practical examples of gender responsiveness and gender budgeting; such as looking at legislation and national budgets that have gone through that gender responsive lens. It is so easy to be caught in the use of terminology and buzz words without truly understanding what it looks like in action and in implementation. Participants were also reminded that
following elections that bring in new Parliamentarians, this must be an ongoing process. Another highlight was appreciating the panelists’ descriptions of transformational leadership. CIWIL’s Dr Rosina Wiltshire’s description of leadership in a circle and not from the top of a pyramid resonated. The emphasis is on the inclusiveness of transformational leadership; therefore, ordinary human beings whose approach or way of management results in extraordinary outcomes which tend to have long lasting impact. The workshop was engaging because it allowed for frank discussions about real experiences. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach in getting more women involved at the decision making level; however, it does require identifying the issues or the barriers, identifying the legislators and Government Members who are interested in seeing the change and being change agents, working with those identified in getting the buy-in and support and producing the outcomes no matter how small and working together on those that are more medium to long term. As a participant engaged in the various discussions, I was reminded that success is not only about the final result, but it is also about the journey of incremental wins and lessons learnt along the way that ultimately helps in shaping the future we want. The workshop had participants not only looking at barriers that come with the embedded patriarchy that exist in many of the Parliaments and of which many were identified; instead, participants looked at practical solutions that could be worked on notwithstanding the barriers in their respective Parliaments. These included, but were not limited to, the establishment of multiparty women caucuses, education and socialization of the issues, effective resourced gender desks in Government Ministries, establishing and cultivating networks and strategic partnerships, practical quotas that could be implemented in the political contexts of each Parliament, sharing of women leadership experiences and realities, and encouraging more women to get involved in leadership in their respective communities. The youth leaders’ perspective was also considered in the discussion of women’s transformational leadership. It was refreshing
Hon. Valerie Woods is the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the
National Assembly of Belize and the Vice-Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP). She has served as Speaker since December 2020. She has a Master's degree from George Washington University in Washington D.C, USA as was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism. She also represents the CWP network on the Editorial Advisory Board for The Parliamentarian.
154 | The Parliamentarian | 2022: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing