Opening Remarks by Deputy Secretary-General (Corporate) Tania Baumann at the Commonwealth Women’s Forum at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2026, Antigua and Barbuda, on 2 November 2026.
Welcome to the fifth Commonwealth Women’s Forum. I thank Minister of State Kiz Johnson for her welcome, and the Government and people of Antigua and Barbuda for their generous hospitality.
In January 2019, four Antiguan women rowed into Nelson’s Dockyard after crossing more than 3,000 miles of the Atlantic. Team Antigua Island Girls had become the first all-Black team to row across an ocean.
They brought different strengths to the boat, but shared one destination. Every mile depended on courage, determination and pulling together. It is a story of leadership, and of what people can achieve when they pull together.
I salute Antigua and Barbuda’s women leaders: Senate President Alincia Williams-Grant, Minister Maria Browne, Minister of State Kiz Johnson, High Commissioner Karen-Mae Hill, and Ambassadors-at-Large Joanne Massiah and Samantha Marshall.
And I want to recognise the leadership represented throughout this room.
You are already leading in your communities, your organisations, your businesses and your governments — making decisions, creating opportunities and finding solutions.
There is much to celebrate in that, even as we recognise how much further there is to go to match our ambition.
The challenge is to ensure our institutions and systems support that leadership and make it possible for many more women and girls to take part, contribute and thrive.
Women are anchors of resilient societies. Their safety, economic independence and influence over public decisions are closely connected.
And our institutions need to recognise those connections in how we design policies, allocate priorities and measure progress.
That ambition is central to the renewal of the Commonwealth.
Our Secretary-General, Shirley Botchwey, is the first African woman to hold that office.
She has put partnerships that deliver practical change at the centre of her vision, with women and girls at the heart of that work.
The Commonwealth cannot fulfil its promise while women and girls are denied theirs.
Over these three days, you bring experience from government, business, civil society and the women’s movement.
You will ask how women’s leadership can shape public policy; how investment and climate finance can reach women-led enterprises and strengthen resilience; and how digital tools, including artificial intelligence, can open markets and attract investment.
Running through these discussions is a common challenge: to ensure women have a genuine voice in shaping the policies, markets, institutions and environments that affect their lives, and that those systems reflect their needs, experiences, ambitions and agency.
Safety is fundamental to that participation. Safety in daily life. Safety against discrimination. Safety against violence towards women and girls, including abuse enabled and amplified by technology, which continues to limit women’s freedom and opportunity.
We will shortly benefit from the presence of Her Majesty The Queen. She has long championed women and girls, and worked to end domestic and sexual violence. Her commitment gives strength to this cause.
Our hosts have demonstrated leadership too. In 2022, Antigua and Barbuda became the first Caribbean country to ratify ILO Convention No. 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work.
Safety is a right, and preventing violence and supporting survivors helps women participate fully in economic and public life.
Men and boys have a vital role in that work — challenging harmful ideas about masculinity early and building relationships grounded in respect.
Since its inception, the Women’s Forum has been a central part of CHOGM. At a time of Commonwealth renewal, its role is especially important.
Your conclusions will help inform the decisions Commonwealth leaders take here in Antigua and Barbuda, and the commitments we carry forward.
I thank every speaker, moderator and delegate for the leadership and experience you bring.
Let us speak frankly, listen to one another and leave with clear, practical commitments — ones that women and girls can recognise in their own lives through greater safety, opportunity and control over their futures.
I declare the fifth Commonwealth Women’s Forum open.
