Baroness Patricia Scotland, the first woman to be appointed Commonwealth secretary-general, says she will “put the women’s agenda very strongly on the table”.
Commonwealth leaders meeting in Malta chose Scotland on Friday, November 27, 2015, after a fraught and extended meeting to choose between three candidates.
She is to take over from Kamalesh Sharma, who has served in the role for eight years.
Scotland, a lawyer who has dual British and Dominican citizenship, served as minister of state, deputy home secretary and attorney-general under the previous Labour government in the UK.
She was the first black woman to be appointed as a Queen’s Counsel in the UK and at the age of 35, was also the youngest woman.
After Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced her appointment to reporters, she said she was “incredibly proud” to be the first woman to hold the post.
“I do wish to put the women’s agenda very strongly on the table,” she said.”Domestic violence affects one in three women globally, it is the greatest cause of morbidity in women and girls and it is a disgrace that that is so.”
