I am proud to be a citizen of a country which has
been in the forefront of not just agitating for
better for women but advancing and elevating
them.

From the formation of the first political party,
the Barbados Labour Party, (BLP), to this day,
with a particular push as a result of the Tom
Adams Commission on the Status of Women,
Barbadian women have been supported,
pushed and afforded opportunities. And when
all else failed, they made their own way.

It is, perhaps, right that the BLP, which gave
Barbados its first female Member of Parliament,
Dame Ermy Bourne, in 1951, has also given our

country its first female Prime Minister, Hon. Mia
Amor Mottley.
Today our Barbadian women are trailblazers in
every sphere, as we say in Barbados, bright and
shining. Our women are everywhere from our
President, Most Honourable Dame Sandra
Mason, to an unprecedented number of
Parliamentarians, heads of businesses, those
throughout the Judiciary, the church, medicine
and education, to those in areas such as
container truck drivers, builders, top chefs and
master blenders. And, of course, our Rihanna
sits at the point of the pinnacle of popular
culture.
Today, International Women’s Day, I
particularly salute the ladies of the Consulate
General of Barbados at New York. There are six
of them (only two men) – dedicated to serving
Barbadians. If we add BTMI and Invest
Barbados, that’s five more women (just another
two men), who deliver daily for Barbados.
And women lead most of our associations in the
jurisdiction of the Consulate, many of them
decades’ long members devoted to assisting
Barbados – leading with passion, perseverance
and inventiveness.
Finally, it is easy, and we should, celebrate our
trailblazers. But as I salute all women, I
especially wish all of us to acknowledge the
zillions who are the glue, the spokes in the
wheel, who hold life – and the world – together,
with their grace, love, sacrifice and sheer hard
work against all odds.
Happy International Women’s Day.

Mackie Holder
Consul General of Barbados at New York

  black women, Women