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Tuesday, May 20, 2025

Women leading the way in T&T

by

Kristy Ramnarine
16 days ago
20250504

For the first time in Trinidad and To­ba­go’s his­to­ry, three women con­cur­rent­ly hold the of­fices of Pres­i­dent, Prime Min­is­ter, and Leader of the Op­po­si­tion—mark­ing a his­toric mo­ment that sig­nals a broad­er shift in the coun­try’s lead­er­ship land­scape.

Kristy.ram­nar­ine@cnc3.co.tt

In a ground­break­ing po­lit­i­cal mo­ment for Trinidad and To­ba­go, Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, SC, has made his­to­ry once again. On May 1, she be­came the first fe­male Prime Min­is­ter in the coun­try to be sworn in­to of­fice twice—mark­ing a pow­er­ful step for­ward in the glob­al land­scape of women in po­lit­i­cal lead­er­ship.

Hold­ing a copy of the coun­try’s Con­sti­tu­tion, the UNC Po­lit­i­cal Leader took her solemn oath un­der the watch­ful eye of the coun­try’s sec­ond woman Pres­i­dent, Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo. The ap­point­ment of Ari­ma MP Pen­ne­lope Beck­les as Op­po­si­tion Leader two days ear­li­er com­plet­ed what has be­come a his­toric feat for women in pol­i­tics.

Ac­cord­ing to UN Women, there are cur­rent­ly 25 coun­tries where 28 women serve in top ex­ec­u­tive gov­ern­ment po­si­tions. The UN Women cal­cu­la­tion is based on in­for­ma­tion pro­vid­ed by per­ma­nent mis­sions to the Unit­ed Na­tions. Coun­tries with monar­chy-based sys­tems are ex­clud­ed from the count of Heads of State. The in­for­ma­tion was last up­dat­ed in March.

Da­ta com­piled by UN Women show that women rep­re­sent 22.9 per cent of cab­i­net mem­bers head­ing min­istries, lead­ing a pol­i­cy area as of Jan­u­ary 1, 2025. There are on­ly nine coun­tries in which women hold 50 per cent or more of the po­si­tions of cab­i­net min­is­ters lead­ing pol­i­cy ar­eas.

The five most com­mon­ly held port­fo­lios by women Cab­i­net min­is­ters are Women and Gen­der Equal­i­ty, fol­lowed by Fam­i­ly and Chil­dren Af­fairs, So­cial In­clu­sion and De­vel­op­ment, So­cial Pro­tec­tion and So­cial Se­cu­ri­ty, and Cul­ture.

Lo­cal­ly, the In­sti­tute of Gen­der and De­vel­op­ment Stud­ies (IGDS) said po­lit­i­cal and state lead­er­ship re­mains over­whelm­ing­ly male-dom­i­nat­ed in the Caribbean and the world to­day.

“In Trinidad and To­ba­go’s po­lit­i­cal his­to­ry, hav­ing three dif­fer­ent kinds of women lead­ers right now is un­prece­dent­ed and his­toric,” said Dr Gabriel Ho­sein, se­nior lec­tur­er at IGDS.

“A woman Speak­er of the House would add to the cur­rent mo­ment. The Pa­tri­ot­ic Front’s slate of pri­mar­i­ly women can­di­dates (20 of 37), un­der a woman po­lit­i­cal leader, was al­so com­plete­ly un­prece­dent­ed and should be recog­nised at this time, even if the elec­tion is over.”

The Pa­tri­ot­ic Front is led by Mick­ela Pan­day. Ho­sein said these are all dif­fer­ent kinds of cracks at the glass ceil­ing, which de­scribes how women can see pow­er but are kept be­low it.

“These are all ‘sym­bol­ic’ wins for women and gen­der equal­i­ty in the coun­try, which should be cel­e­brat­ed,” she added.

“We have to see if they lead to ‘sub­stan­tive’ wins, mean­ing ap­proach­es to gov­er­nance that are less dom­i­neer­ing and an­tag­o­nis­tic and more in­clu­sive and trans­for­ma­tive, and cre­ate greater so­cial, eco­nom­ic and gen­der jus­tice.

“I thought Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s speech at the swear­ing-in cer­e­mo­ny was ex­cel­lent, as was Op­po­si­tion Leader Pene­lope Beck­les’ first state­ment af­ter be­ing elect­ed. Both em­pha­sised lis­ten­ing and ser­vice. Per­sad-Bisses­sar in par­tic­u­lar ac­knowl­edg­ing rur­al Trinidad.”

While women are ex­pect­ed to be more gen­der-sen­si­tive and to bring a more car­ing form of lead­er­ship, that is not al­ways the case, ac­cord­ing to Ho­sein.

“In­deed, as they are held to high­er stan­dards of moral re­spon­si­bil­i­ty for the na­tion, women may be more con­ser­v­a­tive be­cause there is so much back­lash to women’s and girls’ rights and right-wing at­tacks against LGBTQ cit­i­zens, and this can be con­sid­ered po­lit­i­cal­ly cost­ly,” she ex­plained.

“I would like to see women lead­ers, and the men un­der them, stand on the right side of his­to­ry. I sup­port the wish list pub­lished by CAFRA TT, which spoke to is­sues of peace­build­ing, the Health and Fam­i­ly Life cur­ric­u­la, qual­i­ty and af­ford­able child day­care fa­cil­i­ties, and en­vi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, but at this point, I’m less con­cerned about in­di­vid­ual leg­is­la­tion or pol­i­cy and more about both lead­ers in the House set­ting a dif­fer­ent way of re­lat­ing to each oth­er and the coun­try, with­out in­sult, with­out hid­ing in­for­ma­tion, and with­out abuse of pow­er.”

British Chevening schol­ar Teoc­ah Dove, who holds an MSc in Gen­der and In­ter­na­tion­al Re­la­tions and is an in­ter­dis­ci­pli­nary de­vel­op­ment strate­gist, not­ed that we have had ground­break­ing firsts be­fore: with Pres­i­dent Paula-Mae Weekes and Speak­er of the House Oc­c­ah Sea­paul, who was fol­lowed in the post of Speak­er by Bridgid An­nisette-George.

“But to now wit­ness the si­mul­ta­ne­ous lead­er­ship of a woman Pres­i­dent, Prime Min­is­ter, and Op­po­si­tion Leader, es­pe­cial­ly giv­en the deeply com­plex and de­ter­mined po­lit­i­cal jour­neys of the Prime Min­is­ter and Op­po­si­tion Leader, is pro­found­ly mov­ing. There is pow­er not just in the po­si­tions they oc­cu­py but al­so in the sto­ries of per­se­ver­ance, tenac­i­ty, and re­silience that brought them to this mo­ment.

“It is those sto­ries that of­fer hope: to young girls look­ing on, to pro­fes­sion­al women nav­i­gat­ing pa­tri­ar­chal sys­tems, and to an en­tire na­tion learn­ing that lead­er­ship wears many faces.” This res­onates deeply. Dove said it was so be­cause it speaks to more than just women break­ing bar­ri­ers—it speaks to the pow­er of hu­man de­ter­mi­na­tion and the re­minder that we can all rise, no mat­ter the odds.

The sto­ry is not just about gen­der; it’s about the sto­ries that these women car­ry. As Dove re­flects, “Be­cause they de­fied ex­pec­ta­tions and rose, we are re­mind­ed that our own rise is not on­ly pos­si­ble; it is in­evitable.”

She be­lieves that’s the kind of lead­er­ship we need: not on­ly po­si­tions of pow­er but al­so the sto­ries of re­silience and tenac­i­ty that lead to trans­for­ma­tion.

“Yes! But on­ly if we move be­yond sym­bol­ism and tru­ly reimag­ine lead­er­ship through a lens of eq­ui­ty, care, and ac­count­abil­i­ty,” Dove con­tin­ues.

“The ben­e­fit lies not mere­ly in their gen­der but in their abil­i­ty to shift par­a­digms, pri­ori­tise in­clu­sive gov­er­nance, dis­rupt the sys­tem, and lead with courage and com­pas­sion.”

She chal­lenges us not to stop at sur­face-lev­el rep­re­sen­ta­tion but to push for true change that ben­e­fits every­one—re­gard­less of gen­der, back­ground, or so­cial stand­ing. Asked about her thoughts on deal­ing with women’s is­sues, Dove dives deep­er. “First­ly, I would like them to serve an eq­ui­table agen­da for all, not just women and girls. But more­over, I want us to move from ‘is­sues’ to rights. From piece­meal in­ter­ven­tions to sys­temic change.”

She en­vi­sions a fu­ture where the ac­tions we take are not about tick­ing box­es but about dis­man­tling “the scaf­fold­ing of vi­o­lence, eco­nom­ic ex­clu­sion, and in­vis­i­bil­i­ty” that many women, es­pe­cial­ly those in the most mar­gin­alised com­mu­ni­ties, face every day. Con­tin­ues on page 29

To Dove, this isn’t about push­ing a sin­gu­lar “women’s agen­da”—it’s about shap­ing the world to work for every­one, eq­ui­tably.

She be­lieves lead­er­ship must be holis­tic.

Kan­ga­loo, Per­sad-Bises­sar, and Beck­les-Robin­son have shown us that the rise of lead­er­ship, built on re­silience and vi­sion, is not just pos­si­ble; it is in­evitable.

And so, as we wit­ness this un­prece­dent­ed mo­ment in our po­lit­i­cal his­to­ry, let’s re­mem­ber that the re­al pow­er lies not in the ti­tles they hold but in the sto­ries they live, the lives they touch, and the fu­tures they build.

PRES­I­DENT CHRIS­TINE KAN­GA­LOO

Chris­tine Kan­ga­loo is the first woman who served as Vice Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate to be­come the Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate. Sim­i­lar­ly, she is al­so the first woman who served as Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate to be­come the Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Her po­lit­i­cal ca­reer be­gan in 2001 when she was ap­point­ed as Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor.

She was ap­point­ed Vice Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate be­tween Jan­u­ary and Au­gust 2002; a Gov­ern­ment Sen­a­tor and Min­is­ter in the Of­fice of the Prime Min­is­ter be­tween 2002 and 2005; Min­is­ter of Le­gal Af­fairs be­tween 2005 and 2007; and Min­is­ter of Sci­ence, Tech­nol­o­gy and Ter­tiary Ed­u­ca­tion be­tween 2007 and 2010.

Kan­ga­loo al­so served as a Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for the Con­stituen­cy of Pointe-a-Pierre be­tween 2007 and 2010.

In 2015, Kan­ga­loo was elect­ed to the po­si­tion of Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go – a po­si­tion in which she served con­tin­u­ous­ly un­til Jan­u­ary of 2023. As Pres­i­dent of the Sen­ate, Kan­ga­loo act­ed as Pres­i­dent of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go on thir­ty-three (33) oc­ca­sions. (From the Of­fice of the Pres­i­dent)

Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar en­tered pol­i­tics in 1987. From that year un­til 1991, she served as an al­der­man for St. Patrick Coun­ty Coun­cil.

Rep­re­sent­ing the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) in Op­po­si­tion, she took the Oath of Al­le­giance at a sit­ting of the Sen­ate on No­vem­ber 1, 1994. Since 1995 she has been the Mem­ber of Par­lia­ment for Siparia, serv­ing as At­tor­ney Gen­er­al, Min­is­ter of Le­gal Af­fairs and Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion be­tween 1995 and 2001.

The UNC re­turned to the Op­po­si­tion bench­es in 2002, and on April 26, 2006, Per­sad-Bisses­sar was ap­point­ed Leader of the Op­po­si­tion–the first woman to ever hold that po­si­tion in the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

She was ap­point­ed Leader of the Op­po­si­tion a sec­ond time on Feb­ru­ary 25, 2010, al­most one month af­ter she was elect­ed po­lit­i­cal leader of the UNC.

On Tues­day, May 26, 2010, two days af­ter vic­to­ry at the polls, Per­sad-Bisses­sar cre­at­ed his­to­ry yet again by be­com­ing the first woman to hold the of­fice of Prime Min­is­ter of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

She would again win the Siparia seat at the 2015 and 2020 gen­er­al elec­tions, both times serv­ing as op­po­si­tion leader.

On May 1, 2025, three days af­ter her par­ty’s vic­to­ry at the polls, Per­sad-Bisses­sar would again take the oath of of­fice as Prime Min­is­ter.

Pen­ne­lope Beck­les-Robin­son is the first woman to lead the Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) in the Op­po­si­tion. An at­tor­ney-at-law by pro­fes­sion, she is al­so the first woman to have ever been elect­ed Deputy Speak­er in the his­to­ry of the Par­lia­ment of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

Beck­les-Robin­son first en­tered Par­lia­ment in 1995 as an Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor.

She then served as the rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the con­stituen­cy of Ari­ma be­tween 2000 and 2010. Ms Beck­les-Robin­son held var­i­ous port­fo­lios, hav­ing been Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment, Min­is­ter of Cul­ture and Tourism, and Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Util­i­ties and the En­vi­ron­ment.

She was elect­ed Deputy Speak­er of the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives on De­cem­ber 17, 2007, at the Cer­e­mo­ni­al Open­ing of the 1st Ses­sion of the 9th Par­lia­ment of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go.

The Ari­ma MP was elect­ed to the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives as a Mem­ber of the 12th Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment in Au­gust 2020 and in the 13th Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment on Au­gust 28, 2025.

Be­fore this, she most re­cent­ly served as the Leader of Op­po­si­tion Busi­ness in the Sen­ate in the 10th Par­lia­ment be­tween June 2010 and De­cem­ber 2013.

Beck­les-Robin­son would be ap­point­ed Leader of the Op­po­si­tion in the 13th Re­pub­li­can Par­lia­ment.


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