Caribbean Matters: Caribbean nations have embraced women leaders. We should, too

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.

Ahead of the presidential election, there was a concerted effort from punditry to preemptively point fingers at and blame Black men for abandoning Vice President Kamala Harris. Some—including President Barack Obama—predicted that Black men’s misogyny would never allow them to vote for or accept a Black woman (or any woman) in charge. This has been vociferously debunked by exit poll data, since after Black women, Black men were Harris’ strongest supporters—just as they were in 2020 and in 2016.

Some of those faux charges got me to thinking about Black female heads of state—both elected and appointed in our neighboring countries of the Caribbean. If there had been some cultural norm that is specifically Black male-related, these countries would have openly revolted when a woman took the helm, or never elected them to it.

Am I saying that machismo, male chauvinism, and patriarchy are absent in our island neighbors? No. It’s a global phenomenon, and it can be deadly. But while our supposedly Democratic society hasn’t managed yet to “put a woman in charge,” we in the States have been left in the dust by our more advanced neighbors.

Gender equity in government is an issue being tracked by the United Nations, with the goal of “achieving gender parity in political life globally.” So let’s meet some of the Caribbean women who have broken glass ceilings that we have as yet, failed to achieve.