BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC) — A regional network of policy makers and scholars, feminists and women’s rights activists have congratulated the newly appointed Commonwealth Secretary General, Baroness Patricia Scotland.

In a letter to the Commonwealth Secretary General, the group — which is a virtual network of more than 100 members across the region — said they are proud of Scotland’s achievement.

“We feel a deep sense of pride in your achievement as the first woman, and representing the Caribbean region, to have been elected to this pivotal leadership position in the Commonwealth family of nations, an institution with great potential for contributing to global development and peace.”

The Dominica-born Secretary General was urged to continue to prioritise support for Caribbean small island developing states” and increased resources for promoting women’s empowerment and gender equality across the Commonwealth”.

The groups highlighted the vulnerability of the region in the face of the global economic downturn, high levels of national debt, the loss of preferential trade agreements for primary exports such as bananas, and hurricanes and other disasters exacerbated by climate change and global warming.

“These are playing themselves out in increasing poverty particularly among women heads of households, and gender-based and other forms of violence and insecurity,” the letter stated.

It added that despite the achievements of Caribbean women, the region is marked by women’s under-represen-tation in the labour market, in the entrepreneurial class, and in leadership and decision-making, which serve to undermine its economic, social and political development.

The group said it looks forward to welcoming the secretary general to the region and to have talks that will “advance our shared interests in the coming period”.