Prime Minister Gaston Browne has voiced concern over what he described as a growing disparity between men and women in education and economic empowerment, noting that women are outpacing men in both academic achievement and home ownership in Antigua and Barbuda.
Speaking on his _Browne and Browne_ radio programme, the Prime Minister shared an anecdote involving foreign visitors who had noticed the absence of men in a training workshop at the Ministry of Finance.
“They asked me how is it that there are no males there,” Browne said. “They’re doing a two-week workshop with some software. I was kind of embarrassed.”
Browne said the observation highlights a broader societal trend. “Our females are outperforming our men in terms of acquiring tertiary education,” he said. “We have been losing a lot of our males through youth delinquency.”
He said this underrepresentation is visible across government programmes. “Even in the second-chance programme we started to help adults matriculate and qualify — we show more females than males,” he noted.
The Prime Minister also pointed to housing as another area where women have taken the lead.
“I have entire streets with 15, 20 houses — and they are all owned by females,” he said.
While praising women for their determination and independence, Browne stressed the need for targeted interventions to help young men re-engage with education and skills training.
“We have to increase the level of public education and share insights with our people,” he said. “We want Antiguans and Barbudans to be globally competitive, and that requires all of us — men and women — to be empowered.”
