INSPIRING CHANGE: WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP
Speaking at the opening of the Trinidad and Tobago Embassy in Beijing.
• The promotion of shared family responsibilities between women and men to increase women’s participa- tion in public life; • Ensuring gender-responsive national budgets and development plans; and • Undertaking economic diversifi- cation towards service sectors such as creative/technological industries, ensuring women’s equal participation.
In Trinidad and Tobago and the
wider Caribbean, we still have a long way to go to achieve these goals, and this Regional Colloquium provides us with a strong consensus on the way
forward and presented a blueprint for action for women in the Region.
A New Ministry Prior to the hosting of the Colloquium, during a major re-alignment of my Cabinet, I introduced a new Ministry of Gender, Youth and Child Development partly charged with reviewing our country’s draft Gender Policy and the development of guidelines for Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB). The Ministry of Gender, Youth
and Child Development facilitates ongoing interactive training sessions on gender responsive budgeting.
16 | The Parliamentarian | 2014: Issue One
Over 30 senior officials in Central and Local Government, and 75 policymakers, have already benefited from these events, emerging with a commitment to implement strategies and enhance current institutions.
International intervention Achieving the objective of more women in leadership as drivers of democratic and social progress has also involved advocacy beyond borders.
Following the Regional Colloquium, I also co-hosted a high-level side event in the margins of the United Nations
General Assembly 66th Session in September 2011, to formulate and structure implementation strategies to effectively increase women’s participation in representative politics. The side event was co-hosted by
other women leaders including the President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff; the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham-Clinton; Administrator of the UNDP Helen Clark, and the UN Deputy Secretary General Asha- Rose Migiro. A key outcome of the side
event was the signing by all co-sponsors of a joint declaration with concrete recommendations on
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