A significant stride toward gender parity in sports administration was made recently as the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) hosted a dedicated Women’s Leadership Workshop. The event, titled ‘Re-Presenting Female Leaders in Sport’, brought together thirteen aspiring and current female leaders from various local sporting organizations.
Marsha Boyce, a scholar in the esteemed Commonwealth Sport Women Leaders Programme for the 2024-2025 cycle, coordinated the initiative. The workshop received foundational support from both Commonwealth Sport and its regional body, Commonwealth Sport Barbados. Boyce articulated the primary objective of the intensive one-day session: to equip participants with the tools to identify their innate strengths and cultivate additional competencies essential for effective leadership within their respective sporting associations.
The urgent necessity for such initiatives was underscored by stark statistics. Boyce revealed that as of October 2025, a mere 13.3% of presidents across Barbados’s National Sporting Federations were women. She emphasized that this disparity is not a localized issue but a pervasive global trend, noting that Commonwealth Sport data indicates approximately 75% of executive positions in international sport are occupied by men. “Projects like this are necessary to encourage female administrators to step forward into the leadership roles they are more than capable of fulfilling,” Boyce stated, highlighting the program’s role in addressing the critical representation gap at the decision-making level.
Ryan Brathwaite, Commonwealth Sport’s Regional Development Manager for the Caribbean and the Americas, also addressed the attendees. He expressed his gratification in witnessing the workshop’s delivery and praised Boyce for translating her learning from the flagship Commonwealth Women Leadership Programme into “meaningful action.” Brathwaite elaborated on the programme’s structure, which provides 16 women leaders from across the region, including the Caribbean and Barbados, with a 12-month scholarship and dedicated mentorship to shape and strengthen their leadership potential.
Adding a profound philosophical perspective, BOA President Sandra Osbourne challenged the participants to examine their motivations for seeking leadership. She cautioned against simply replacing male leaders with female ones and urged a deeper commitment. “Leadership is more than a title, it’s a commitment to take responsibility, to lift others up, to build a culture where unity of purpose and talent – not gender – determine success,” Osbourne asserted. She encouraged the women to seek various positions of influence, reminding them that impactful leadership exists at all levels and is ultimately about using one’s influence as a force for good.