The IWF is an invitation-only global network of some of the most accomplished women in the world. We connect women leaders across every professional sector, all with a common mission of advancing women’s leadership and championing equality worldwide. Established in New York City in 1974, today IWF is comprised of over 8,000 preeminent women leaders in 33 countries and 76 local Forums. The members are including inventors, entrepreneurs, CEOs, heads of state, academics, scientists, astronauts, Olympic athletes, artists, filmmakers, financiers, and philanthropists.

The IWF Barbados forum was started in October 2018 and is made up of 38 women leaders from diverse backgrounds, industries, nationalities and experiences.

IWF Barbados Key Initiatives
In 2018, the Barbados forum established three working groups whose activities and work are geared towards the issues of equality and enablement of women.

The first group, Women on Boards, is aimed at increasing the number of women on Boards in Barbados. Its first signature project in 2019/2020 involved commissioning the first independent empirical research of Gender Diversity on Boards in Barbados with the aim of eventually developing a national award programme to highlight, recognize and publicly commend and award companies and institutions which meet international benchmark % of women on boards. We subsequently championed the survey’s rollout in 2021 to our sister countries Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. The second edition of the survey was recently completed in 2023, providing important data on the progress of our Barbadian and Caribbean women in reaching the highest decision and policy-making levels in both the private and public sector, and comparisons against international country benchmarks in reports on North America and Europe. Another critical area of focus for the group is mentoring women as leaders with a view to increasing the representation of women where there is a deficiency in female representation.

The second group, Women in STEM, is aimed at increasing the interest and participation of girls and women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers or businesses. Their first project was to carry out practical research to determine the number of young women enrolled in STEM subjects and who were considering STEM careers. In order to increase these numbers, an inspiring series of short Vlogs of Barbadian women in STEM careers telling their stories and what makes these careers rewarding was recorded and shared on social media. Other activities included hosting a series of “Connectors” to network and mentor young women in early stages of STEM careers. This year the focus of the group is the development of an App to facilitate sharing of information on jobs and careers in STEM in Barbados and the region.

The final group, Financial Empowerment, initially sought to enable young girls, who at age 16 are required to leave Children’s Homes, to successfully transition out of the home environment and into independence. This project has broadened to include other young ladies and empowers them by teaching them life skills, providing mentoring and assistance in finding jobs as well as providing appropriate attire for work through the “Suited for Success” program which is being run in association with the Ministry of Youth Affairs.

At the recently concluded AGM and Strategic Retreat in November 2023, the IWF Barbados Forum added a number of other focus areas under which activities in the coming years will take place. These include Women in Business, Women and Health, Women Driving Leadership and Working with the Elderly, and all will be spearheaded by IWF Barbados members who are passionate about these areas.

IWF Barbados is also committed to working collaboratively and in a complementary fashion to other local and regional women’s organizations. In the past, we have collaborated with UN Women, Caribbean Women in Leadership and ParlAmericas. to celebrate and honour the delegates of the regional planning meetings for Beijing+25 under the theme “Realizing gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”. The Barbados meeting was held to come to consensus, common ground and a coordinated position for Caribbean negotiations on Beijing +25 in New York.

We have also joined with the other IWF Caribbean Forums and IWF Bermuda to host an International Women’s Day event, “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”, featuring Dr. Carla Barnett, the first female Secretary-General of CARICOM.