History has been made in the Caribbean following the recent elections in Trinidad and Tobago. The Commonwealth member state now uniquely has an all-female representation leading the country, with a female President, a female Prime Minister and a female Leader of the Opposition, all serving concurrently.

Empowering women and girls

Earlier this year, Trinidad and Tobago excelled in the pursuit of one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 5 - to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – by welcoming the President of the Republic: HE Christine Carla Kangaloo ORTT; the Prime Minister: Hon Kamla Persad Bissessar SC; and the Leader of the Opposition: Hon Pennelope Beckles Robinson MP. This of course follows the election of Mayor Akeilah Glasgow Warner, Mayor of Diego Martin Borough Corporation as Chair of the national local government association – the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Local Government Authorities.

Empowering women to stand for and successfully serve in political positions is crucial to representative democracy, and in making our communities safe, fair, equal, sustainable - places where all members of the community can thrive. Achieving SDG 5 is a key priority for CLGF and an important part of our work. Since the establishment of the Commonwealth Women in Local Government network (ComWLG) in 2017, we have been bringing our members and women leaders from across the Commonwealth together to support women’s political leadership and to support change in local processes, institutions, and policies to empower more women and to mainstream gender equality.   

Learning from each other

The ComWLG network is a network of networks supporting national networks, where they exist, and working with individual women leaders as well as our local government association members. Many of the issues and challenges that women face in standing for election to local government, or in managing local administrations are similar, regardless of the region they live in. ComWLG provides a Commonwealth platform to enable communication, learning and exchange. It is also a wonderful space to celebrate achievements, share tools, but also to analyse and address problems collectively.

Mentoring

This includes demonstrating the important role of mentoring, in building confidence and providing a space to ensure women understand the political system they are part of, what is expected of them in their role as councillor and leaders, or simply receive the support of other women who have stood in their shoes. CLGF and the ComWLG ran a “month of mentoring” to highlight how different countries have used mentoring as a way to support women leaders across local government. This was collated in a report available on the CLGF website.

Local and Regional Governments' Charter for Gender Equality in South Asia

CLGF is always keen to understand how its capacity building work can influence and enhance policy. The Local and Regional Governments Charter for Gender Equality in South Asia, was adopted at the ComWLG meeting held in Sri Lanka in July 2024. It was developed through a participatory process with members and women leaders from the region, and provides a framework for improving gender parity and active inclusion of women in all aspects of local leadership and decision-making.

Role of political parties

Political parties can have a huge impact on  women’s representation both nationally and internationally, they can be gatekeepers or enablers and we see examples of both in experiences in the Commonwealth.   A recent CLGF webinar to mark International Women’s Day 2025 (in partnership with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association) brought local and national leaders to examine the role of political parties in supporting more women candidates into elections. The webinar shared the views of women leaders, highlighted some of the barriers they were able to overcome,  and highlighted some of the practical ways in which political parties have worked to increase the number of women candidates.

We celebrate the appointments in Trinidad and Tobago; we congratulate the new post holders, and we look forward to working with our members to ensure that gender parity in local government becomes the norm and not the exception.  

To find out more about ComWLG, which is coordinated by CLGF’s Senior Programme Officer (Networks), Janine Xavier-Cross, go to the dedicated webpage.

Image courtesy of The National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago, tttliveonline.