PM Mottley among Financial Times’ 25 most influential women of 2022

The magazine says its Women of the Year issue reaffirms every December that influence comes in many forms, by exploring achievement across cultures, industries and artistries.

“For 2022, we again commissioned entries by some of the world’s most powerful women. But we also sought contributors who could speak to their subject’s influence in diverse, even unexpected dimensions,” the magazine said.

In January, after mottley won a landslide re-election victory, she told the Financial Times that she believed in “moral strategic leadership”.

That is apparent in everything she does, making her one of the most formidable leaders of her generation.

A lawyer who trained at the London School of Economics, Mottley won her first political seat at the age of 28.

At COP26 she made clear that the failure of industrialised states to meaningfully invest to halt climate change was catastrophic for the planet. Her speech was as inspiring as it was humbling, and citizens globally were gripped.

This year her “Bridgetown Agenda” to reform the international financial system offers real, practical solutions. Her ability to speak truth to power is also apparent at home, where she oversaw the birth of Barbados as a republic, leaving its colonial past behind.

Mottley expects this term as premier to be her last; whatever she does next, the world is lucky to have her.