Today, I join Barbadians to celebrate International Women’s Day under the theme, “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” This theme compels us to recognize that the participation of women, on equal terms with men and at all levels of decision-making, is essential to the achievement of sustainable development, peace and democracy.

We in Barbados are no strangers to phenomenal women and the positive impact they have on our lives. And we must not lose sight of the indispensable role women have played and continue to play in diplomacy and in shaping Barbados’ foreign policy.

I welcome the opportunity to celebrate the trailblazers who preceded me. I celebrate the outstanding contribution of Dame Billie Miller, the first woman to serve as Foreign Minister, and a woman who mentored me and prepared me for the office I now hold. I was junior minister to Dame Billie from 2003 to 2008. I also salute Ms. Maxine McClean a former Senator who served as the second female Foreign Minister.

I must also salute the President of Barbados, Her Excellency The Most Honourable Dame Sandra Prunella Mason, who also served as Barbados’ Ambassador to Venezuela with concurrent accreditations to Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. I also recognize the contribution of our first female Governor General, the late Dame Ruth Nita Barrow, Barbados’ first female Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Ms. June Clarke and Senator Elizabeth Thompson would follow in Dame Nita’s footsteps

Indeed, the expansion of Barbados’ diplomatic relations with Latin American countries in the 1970s required the recruitment of officers fluent in Spanish. Among these were the first female Head of the Barbados Foreign Service, Teresa Marshall. After serving as Ambassador at Caracas, Ambassador Marshall returned to Headquarters as Deputy Permanent Secretary until her promotion to Permanent Secretary. When she retired from the public service Ambassador Marshall had the distinction of being the longest serving Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Simone Rudder, our woman at Brussels, also served as Permanent Secretary before assuming her current position.

Indeed, many of our female foreign service officers went on to serve at the highest levels in the Barbados Public Service. Retired Ambassadors Lolita Applewhaite, Sonja Welch and Yvette Goddard and former Permanent Secretaries Berenice King and Cecile Humphrey all had successful foreign service careers before transitioning to the general service.

Presently, the top four administrative posts of Director General for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Permanent Secretary, Director of Foreign Trade and Deputy Permanent Secretary are all held by women. We can boast that the Barbados Foreign Service surpasses the global average of 21% of female heads of mission. In the Barbados Foreign Service 35% of our Ambassadors and High Commissioners are women. In the 2024 Women in Diplomacy Index, Barbados ranked among the top three with 63% of resident ambassadors being female.

I am immensely proud that Barbados continues to serve as a model of excellence in diplomacy. Perhaps the most pertinent example is the leadership shown by Prime Minister, the Hon. Mia Amor Mottley, who has emerged as a global thought-leader, humanitarian, defender of peace and sustainable societies and advocate for climate vulnerable countries and reform of the international system.

The contribution of women to diplomacy is often undocumented and unheralded. They often find their paths to progress hindered by structural, systemic and cultural barriers. Women practice a duty of care which broadens the scope of issues under consideration and the quality of outcomes. Alas, diplomacy remains male-dominated. Indeed, while there are more women in leadership roles in diplomacy, sadly they continue to battle sexism in these spaces. Regrettably, in 2025 it is still difficult for a woman with a spouse and children to advance in the foreign service.

The issue of underrepresentation of women in diplomacy is an all-of-society problem. We must continue to be more strident in our efforts to tear down the inequities which bar women’s advancements in diplomacy and create the conditions for their overall career successes. We must move beyond the basic goals of achieving gender balance in leadership roles to transforming our cultural mindset, values and societies to right the gender imbalances in the foreign service and in the international system.

I pledge, as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and as the father of a girl child, to commit to breaking barriers and empowering women in diplomacy towards a more inclusive future. Happy International Women’s Day!