Senate President Alencia Williams-Grant said financial barriers continue to limit women’s ability to expand businesses and participate fully in politics, urging targeted investment to unlock what she described as “the woman factor.”

Speaking at the Caribbean–EU Parliamentary Assembly’s Women’s Forum, Williams-Grant told delegates that investing in women is “not charity, it’s economic efficiency,” arguing that women remain one of the most underfunded drivers of sustainable growth.

She noted that although women own at least 40% of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across the Caribbean and are prominent in tourism, hospitality, retail, agro-processing and the creative industries, women-led firms receive significantly less financing. Average loans to women, she said, stand at about US$156,000 compared with US$1.54 million for male-owned businesses.

Williams-Grant warned that limited access to capital restricts women’s ability to scale enterprises, secure loans and mount political campaigns.

“Economic exclusion becomes political exclusion, and political exclusion perpetuates economic exclusion,” she said, calling for policies to break that cycle.

She proposed expanded corporate social investment in business incubators, childcare services operated by non-governmental organisations, financial literacy initiatives and leadership development programmes.

Senator Kiz Johnson, who also addressed the forum, called for systems to close the political representation gap, saying quotas should be considered. She pointed to existing support mechanisms, including the Prime Minister’s Entrepreneurial Development Fund — which she said has recorded 47% female participation — and capacity-building programmes offered through the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority.