Whoever said that it’s lonely for women at the top has obviously not heard of Turks and Caicos Islands.
In the highest office of its local government sits an eccentric leader. The first female premier, Sharlene Cartwright-Robinson, is a beacon in a world where most top public officials are men; a dichotomous member of the ‘boys club’ that is the premier’s office.
However, in January 2017, BBC News published an article about how this trailblazing woman is not alone at the top. She stands alongside other powerful women in government, including the deputy governor, attorney general, chief justice, chief magistrate, director of public prosecutions, and an overwhelming majority of permanent secretaries, who are all qualified women shattering the ‘glass ceiling’.
The glass ceiling, which prevents many women around the globe from reaching top public posts, is a cliché in Turks and Caicos. The deputy governor applauds the islands’ gender-fairness approach to entry, and upward mobility in politics and government. It is especially apparent in the island’s Chevening Scholars—nearly 100% of recent scholars are young women. Needless to say, the pool of female leaders in Turks and Caicos is unlikely to run dry anytime soon.
As Ms Cartwright-Robinson often infers, sometimes the best man for the job happens to be a woman.
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