The theme for the 9th Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (9WAMM) is: 'Gender Issues in Economic Crisis, Recovery and Beyond: Women as Agents of Transformation.'

The opening ceremony, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre was attended by some 300 delegates from across the Commonwealth. They included Ministers, senior officials, civil society and partner organisations and delegates from the private sector.

Delegates were welcomed by the Hon Stephen Lashley, the Minister of Youth, Family and Sport in Barbados who said: “We are all brothers and sisters in history and on this occasion we will focus on the challenges facing our sister citizens of our respective societies as a result of the current global economic experience.”

Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma (pictured) spoke about the special importance of the meeting: “Half of our Commonwealth population receives considerably less than half of our attention, and faces considerably more than half our challenges,” he said.

“I never cease to stress that the status and opportunities of women are the surest indicator of the health of a society. Where women prosper, societies prosper; and where women suffer, so too do the societies in which they live, whether the men realise it, or not.”

In his opening address, the Hon Freundel Stuart, Acting Prime Minister of Barbados said: “I embrace the view that women can play a pivotal role in the recovery process and support the call for initiatives that lead to the creation of facilities to enable them to not only weather the storm but to assume their rightful place in the design of the transformation process.”

The first session of the meeting begins today with addresses by Hon Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, State Minister in Charge of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs, Bangladesh; and Dame Stephanie Shirley, the British Government's Ambassador for Philanthropy.