Empowering Young Women in Leadership to Charge in Belize

Women across Belize are uniting in support of the Young Women in Leadership initiative. Launched for the first time in Belize, this project gathers members of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus to encourage young women across the Caribbean to step into public leadership roles.  At today’s ceremony, Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, President of the Senate explained that in a country often divided by politics, the mission to uplift and empower young women is something that everyone must support.

 

Hon. Carolyn Trench-Sandiford, President, Senate

“There is strength in numbers  in numbers. Globally the percentage of women in Parliament rose from eleven point three percent in 1995 to twnety-seven point two in 2025, with Rwanda being the highest at sixty-one point three percent and some countries like Papua New Guinea, and Micronesia at zero percent. Currently nineteen-point five of parliamentarians in Belize are women. That means one in every five parliamentarian. Is a woman. This compares to one in every one in two Belizeans being a woman already we’re seeing that there is a great gap in the National Assembly. It was Marian Wright Edelman who said that you can’t be what you can’t see. It means that not having visible women role models in our national assembly limits the aspirations of young women who want to enter political life if we are to increase the percentage of women in the National Assembly. All Belizeans, but more so young women need to see how a woman parliament looks. We have seen how a solely man parliament look. Young women need to see people who look like them, who come from similar backgrounds, and who share a common vision for Belize. This is crucial for empowerment and inspiration. We can’t just speak of it. We must see it.”