Joycelin Massiah has for four decades been
involved in every aspect of Caribbean society. A Demographer,
she received her training at the UWI where she enjoyed an illustrious
career, including being the first female Professor appointed in
the Faculty of Social Sciences. Her pioneering work on women in
the Caribbean has had far-reaching effects on Caribbean scholarship
in the field of women and development and on women’s rights
activism in the region. She has been the Regional Programme Director
of the UNIFEM Caribbean Office for the past ten years. Her dynamic
leadership there contributed to a successful outcome for the Caribbean
at the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Among
her many awards have been the Gold Crown of Merit, the third highest
award of Barbados, in 1998 and the sixth CARICOM Triennial Award
for Women in 1999.