The Barbados Olympic Association Inc. (BOA) Women and Sport Commission hosted a two-day event as part of its celebrations for International Women’s Day, under this year’s theme – ‘Pledge for Parity’.
The first event, a leadership forum held at its Wildey headquarters, highlighted the achievements of professional women in leadership roles.
Guest speakers included Professor Eudeane Barriteau, former CEO of Nation Publishing, Vivianne Gittens and Attorney-at-Law Sandra Osbourne.
Women and Sport Committee Member, Ytannia Wiggins, made a call for more women to be considered for leadership roles in sports, adding that more needed to be done to raise public awareness about the inequality of gender-based leadership roles in Barbados.
“The public is aware. Little things are being done but there’s not one big coordinated effort, hence why we have places like Jabez House, Barbados Professional Women and the National Organisation of Women,” she said.
Assistant Director of the National Sports Council (NSC), Mona Alleyne, shared similar sentiments adding that the event was aimed at “putting women in the forefront and promoting what women do in sports”.
She noted that while they sought to encourage equality in leadership roles in sports, they were not aiming to “take over”.
“We can share the roles and not just have men doing everything . . . we don’t want to take over but we want to be there alongside [the men],” she said.
The celebrations climaxed with a 5K run/walk at the Wildey Gymnasium which saw the participation of over 300 people.