The unrealised potential of women’s political leadership in the Caribbean: A co-constitutive approach

ABSTRACTGendered relations of power coupled with socio-cultural structures such as class, continue to limit opportunities for women who aspire to political leadership in the Caribbean. This article argues that the enduring influences of patriarchy and classism substantively impinge upon the freedom of women to fully participate in political leadership, thereby creating a capability failure. The author suggests that the Capabilities Approach (CA) is a critical missing link in efforts designed to address the question of women’s limited political engagement in the Caribbean. Specifically, integrating CA into current strategies can help us to understand the possibilities for and limits on individual women’s agency in the political sphere. As such, the author suggests a co-constitutive framework that uses CA in conjunction with established strategies such as quotas, for addressing the issue. This proposed method aims to redirect policy foci to the quality of women’s political participation and not just the quantity.KEYWORDS: Genderwomen in politicsintersectionalitycapabilities approachpatriarchyclass Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Political imaginary here refers to the collective structure that organizes the imagination or realm of possibilities regarding citizen’s participation in political life (Browne and Diehl Citation2019).