Celebrating a Transformational Caribbean Woman Leader

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, January 28, 2022 (CIWiL) — The Caribbean Women in Leadership (CIWiL) congratulates Prime Minister, The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P., on her recent national election win.  As Prime Minister Mottley embarks upon her second consecutive term in office, she has reiterated her government’s readiness to fulfill the mandate entrusted to them by the Barbadian people and their commitment to tackling present and anticipated challenges while working towards meeting aspirations of sustainable development.

Ostensibly, the rallying cries are not very dissimilar to those heard across many other Caribbean countries. What does, however, distinguish Barbados, is the foundational ethic which discernibly drives the principal woman herself and which consequently permeates her government’s policies and processes. It is an ethic that CIWiL recognises as transformational leadership – an approach whereby one’s power, resources, and skills are used responsibly within democratic, cooperative, inclusive structures to advance a vision of gender equality, social justice, and human rights for all. Within the past year alone – from UNGA 76 to COP26 to the handling of the COVID-19 crisis and Barbados’ transition to a Republic – Prime Minister Mottley’s focus on improving equity, wellbeing, and quality of life and her propensity for building alliances on every front, leaves no doubts about her leadership.

Prime Minister Mottley’s people-centredness is core to the distinctiveness of her transformational leadership which benefits all of society. It is consistent with the broader, mounting recognition that women as a whole make essential contributions to achieving and maintaining peaceful and secure communities, the full realisation of human rights, the eradication of disease, hunger, and poverty, and the promotion of sustainable development (UN 2018).  CIWiL’s congratulations to Prime Minister Mottley are thus accompanied by confidence in her capacity for good governance, based on the transformational leadership she embodies.

We urge leaders in Parliament to live up to the call of transformational leadership by working collectively, despite their differences, to uphold the common principles of gender equality and human rights both in their service to the country and within political structures. This includes acting to remove barriers to women’s leadership and uplift fellow aspiring sisters in politics. This will enable us to reach the critical mass required to affect economic, political, and social transformation in our wider Caribbean societies. As a non-partisan NGO established to support this very cause, CIWiL continues to offer our partnership to all Caribbean organisations, institutions, and individuals with a shared transformational vision.