British High Commissioner, Victoria Dean, recently hosted a lunch for specially invited female guests at her official residence to celebrate International Women’s Day.

Among those who joined Mrs Dean were Dame Maizie Barker-Welch of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Kaymar Jordan of Barbados Today, Carol Martindale from Nation Newspapers, Connie Smith of BIBA and Marilyn Rice-Bowen of NOW.

This year governments and activists around the world will commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration. This is a platform for action adopted by 189 countries which seeks to be a visionary road map for women’s rights and empowerment towards gender equality. It imagines a world where each woman and girl can exercise her freedoms and choices and realise all her rights, such as living free from violence, going to school, participating in decisions and earning equal pay for equal work.

Mrs Dean said, “Some progress has been made over the years as gender equality and women’s rights have become more widely accepted. But women still have far to go. Gender-based violence is still a major concern. All girls should have equal access to education. Violence, female genital mutilation, forced early childhood marriages, minimal working rights and human trafficking are very real issues still plaguing a large percentage of the world’s female population.”

Mrs Dean and her guests agreed that together they would use their influence in society to empower each other, young women, sisters, neighbours, daughters and friends to promote women’s rights and to protect those rights for today and generations to come.