INSPIRING CHANGE: WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP
WOMEN’S TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP: WORKING TOWARDS GENUINE DEMOCRACY AND SOCIAL PROGRESS
A joint winner of the Political Consultants Democracy Award 2013 alongside Prime Minister of Jamaica, Hon. Portia Simpson-Miller, MP, the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago is continuing her efforts, in achieving the objective of getting more women into leadership roles to help drive democratic and social progress.
Hon. Kamla Persad- Bissessar, SC, MP Mrs Persad-Bissessar is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. She leads the United National Congress and the People’s Partnership coalition. A lawyer, she was a Senator in 1994 before entering the House of Representatives in 1995. She has held several senior political posts, usually as the first Trinidadian woman to do so.
female, it is easy to appreciate the wisdom of the late former leader of the People’s Republic of China, Mao Zedong, who once said “women hold up half the sky”. With such historical wisdom, and
the reality of today, the need to inspire change for women in leadership as drivers of democratic and social progress is not only appropriate, but also imperative.
Hon. Kamla Persasd-Bissessar, MP
I welcome this opportunity to connect with my distinguished Commonwealth parliamentary colleagues, through this forum, especially on the theme “Inspiring Change”, with the International Women’s Day 2014 celebrations. Inspiring change among women,
Caribbean women in particular, has been one of my guiding priorities since assuming the leadership of my country, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2010. On the basis of statistics alone,
in a world population of over 7 billion people, 49 per cent of which is
14 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue One
Factors mitigating against women as leaders As women leaders, as Parliamentarians and as social activists, we have a clear understanding of the factors which have in the past sustained a disparate balance of political power:
• Laws and institutions do not adequately ensure women’s equity; • Financial resources are not adequate to meet the requirements to advance change; • The politics of politics which make it difficult for young women to enter and rise in political structures; • The need for sustained change
and commitment to new politics which truly reflects the ideals of liberty and social justice; • The multiple roles of women in the workplace, the family and the community and finding the right balance; • The need for comprehensive rethinking of gender roles in society; • The need to insist on inclusion and equality, because public business is women’s business; and • The need for cultural empower- ment for women, to change the prevailing thinking from “how do we bring change” to “I can be a change leader”.
Caribbean Regional Women’s Colloquium These were among the top issues addressed at a forum I hosted in June 2011 in Port of Spain, Trinidad - the Caribbean Regional Women’s Colloquium on Women Leaders as Agents of Change. This forum was hosted in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership (CIWiL), the Organization
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