University Director of the Centre for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies, Professor Barbara Bailey, has been selected as the recipient of the Ninth CARICOM Triennial Award for Women, 2008. The Award was introduced in 1983 to recognize and honour women of distinction in the Caribbean whose work had made a significant contribution to socio-economic development at the national and regional levels.

Professor Bailey joins a cadre of seven highly esteemed and outstanding women of the Caribbean who have previously been bestowed with the Award for their dedication and determination in broadening the parameters of existence for women and improving their economic, social, political, cultural and legal status. Past awardees include the late Governor General of Barbados, Dame Nita Barrow; Tutor-Coordinator, Women and Development Unit (WAND) UWI at Cave Hill and founding member of the Caribbean Association of Feminist Action and Research (CAFRA) and Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN) Dr. Peggy Antrobus; retired Assistant Secretary-General in the office of the United Nations Secretary,Dr. Lucille Mathurin Mair, and the Hon. Madam Justice Desiree Bernard, the first female judge of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

Professor Barbara Bailey has had a distinguished career in the field of education and gender studies. As an academic, she has engaged in distinguished original research which has filled an important niche in regional gender and education literature and has had significant implications for public educational policy. Her work in gender and education has made a distinctive contribution to educational practice and curriculum development, especially in relation to gender.  Over the years, she has provided valuable insights and significant understandings of the complexity of gender, human resource development and the importance of equal opportunity afforded through education. Her work has a wide audience including regional and international academics, researchers, policy makers and practitioners.

In her capacity as Regional Coordinator of the CGDS, Professor Bailey’s work as a regional and international consultant has served to enhance the image of the UWI in the international community.  She headed the 2006 Government of Jamaica Delegation to the 36th Session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to present and defend Jamaica’s fifth Periodic Report at the United Nations and also represented Jamaica on various occasions on international Commissions dealing with the status of women.

She has served as Chair of the National Gender Advisory Committee appointed by the Government of Jamaica to develop a strategic and comprehensive policy for achieving gender equality and social justice and provide direction, coordination, integration and monitoring of gender mainstreaming activities of the government. She was also Co-Chair of the Jamaica National Preparatory Commission which prepared the National Report on the Status of women in Jamaica for the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China.

At the regional level, Professor Bailey has served as advisor to CARICOM on several occasions including at the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women which acted as the Preparatory Committee for the UN Special Session on Women at the United Nations headquarters in New York in March 2000. She was also consultant to the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) charged with the responsibility to develop and implement a curriculum for a regional gender training programme and to evaluate and publish a set of training modules. She was also Member of CARICOM’s Gender Mainstreaming Task Force in 2001 and served on the Regional Advisory Committee on Gender Matters.

The award to Professor Bailey is to be presented at the Opening Ceremony of the Twenty-Ninth Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community scheduled to take place in Antigua and Barbuda from July 2-4, 2008.