Strongly influenced by patriarchy and societal attitudes, the home is a powerful site in which our gender identities as men and women are shaped and continue to be reinforced.2 In general, under the influence of the pervasive gender system, societies hold that women are unequal to men and that men have a 'right' to exercise power and privilege over women in the home as in society. While these ideas and the related practices are increasingly challenged, they are still strongly perpetuated within our homes as well as in workplaces and, governmental systems, from the local to global levels. This must be of concern to leaders who as members or representatives of Government and Opposition see themselves as sharing the responsibility of being partners in the development of the democratic process.3 There is an artificial separation of home as private and the political as public. Yet much of the transformation of gender relations that we envision cuts across this dichotomy. Issues of power, decision-making, equality, empowerment, equity and, human rights are as important in the home as they are in the so- called public spheres. If these are not present in the private sphere, such as the home, then it is less likely they will be in the public sphere of the political. This is where the change must begin. The development of the democratic process requires the transformation of gender and social relations towards equality, equity, human empowerment and development. Without women's effective participation in all aspects of economic, social and political life, communities experience a waste of the talent and resources, skills and creativity that can be brought to the development process. Both men and women can contribute in different and complementary ways to solving the common issues that humankind faces. This and this has been a core motive for the struggle for gender equity and equality.4 Yet, confronting the barriers of gender inequality is challenging for leaders as well as citizens and especially for women in the Caribbean, as in other parts of the world. The challenge is profound in the Caribbean because of the general weakening of our economies, societies and organizations over the past twenty to thirty years. Over this period, there have been reversals in gains won by women, especially during the 1970s and early 1980s. Women's movements, the main catalyst for any project aimed at securing women's human rights, have generally been in retreat in the CARICOM Caribbean. Caribbean reality and gender The CARICOM Caribbean region itself as a whole has been at a kind of cross roads. In global terms, as Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) our countries have open dependent economies and are environmentally vulnerable, one aspect of which is demonstrated in the 'hurricane season'. The countries share a common experience of slavery and the plantation economy which grew out of it. While the region held a significant place in the global economy in the colonial period, the acceleration of globalization and under current terms of trade liberalization, the small economies are increasingly threatened.5 The imminent changes in the sugar regime of the European Union and the African Caribbean and Pacific countries are expected to deepen the economic vulnerabilities of the respective countries and engender wide economic and social dislocation at the community level of the communities and among the men and women who are dependent on the sector.6 Other features of the Caribbean reality complicate the task of promoting and securing gender equality, which is so fundamental to the task that Government and Opposition share in a developing democracy. First, as a result of Structural Adjustment policies of the 1980s and the force of globalization today, the spaces for democratic participation by citizens have contracted. In many aspects, the state has retreated in its responsibility and accountability to citizens and this is most evident when we assess the agenda for gender equality and the many commitments made by governments which have not been fulfilled. …