Wescot-Williams moves to restart Parliament’s Women’s Caucus as delegation will participate in the Caribbean Women Parliamentarians meeting

GREAT BAY--Chairlady of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams says she intends to reconvene and revitalize the Women’s Caucus of Parliament, noting that the process of selecting representatives for an upcoming regional engagement also provides an opportunity to bring newer Members of Parliament up to speed on the caucus’ purpose, objectives, and prior work.

“I will then shortly have a meeting of the Women’s Caucus of Parliament… so that we then can further deliberate,” Wescot-Williams said during a Central Committee meeting, adding that the caucus has not met “for some time, definitely not in the constellation of Parliament that we have today,” and that she intends to “reestablish the workings of the Women’s Caucus of Parliament.”

The Chairlady’s remarks were made as Parliament considered the approval of the composition of a delegation, and related provisions, for Members of Parliament to participate in a meeting of Caribbean women parliamentarians scheduled for January 21, 2026, in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Wescot-Williams said the invitation was received on December 18, 2025, and that the meeting is titled “Catalyzing regional action on technology-facilitated gender based violence against women in public life, supporting parliamentary action.”

According to Wescot-Williams, the meeting will socialize findings from research conducted on the topic, in partnership with UNFPA and IKLAK, and will facilitate collaborative work on practical tools that parliamentarians and other political actors can use “to contribute to ending technology-facilitated gender based violence from their unique space of influence.”

Wescot-Williams explained that the proposal before the committee was to approve the work visit for two female Members of Parliament, in line with encouragement for the participation of two women parliamentarians, where feasible, to enable cross-party representation in the discussion. She also indicated that the Women’s Caucus could choose to have a male colleague represent the Parliament at the meeting, and proposed leaving the decision open for caucus discussion rather than determining names during the Central Committee deliberations.

With no objections raised to the travel itself, Wescot-Williams signaled her expectation that the participation of two Members could be approved, after which the Women’s Caucus would meet to finalize its internal deliberations and move forward.

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