Women from across the Caribbean and South America involved in fire and emergency services are currently gathered in Saint Lucia for the second annual “Women in Service” retreat hosted by the Institution of Fire Engineers Caribbean and South America.
The retreat brings together female professionals from various protective services for several days of professional development, networking, and dialogue aimed at strengthening leadership and expanding opportunities for women within the sector.
Secretary of the Institution of Fire Engineers Caribbean and South America, Jenelle Ross-McIntyre, explained that the initiative is designed to highlight the contributions of women while providing a space for mentorship and empowerment.
“This retreat is just an element of it where we focus on the women within the service looking to strengthen and empower and highlight some of the powerful contributions that we have from women in service across the region,” Ross-McIntyre said.
According to her, the gathering has attracted experienced professionals from several countries who are sharing their expertise and leadership journeys.
“We have a lot of powerful women in positions of Assistant Commissioner from Jamaica that we have present. We have leads in police and prisons that are here to share their knowledge, their wisdom, their experience to inspire other ladies in service to pursue leadership,” she added.
Vice Chair of the Institution of Fire Engineers Caribbean and South America, Amaly St. Cyr-Andrews, said the retreat also focuses on equipping women with the tools needed to navigate complex roles within emergency service institutions.
“We are empowering women to stand up for themselves, to understand their place, their role, and their function in these various institutions that they belong to,” St. Cyr-Andrews said.
She noted that many officers are required to take on responsibilities that go beyond their initial training, making continued development critical.
“Another thing that we notice is that there are a lot of roles that they are not initially trained for, that when they respond, they do actually have to act,” she explained. “So, we again took the initiative to take these women, train them.”
Among the regional participants is Assistant Commissioner of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Julian Davis-Buckle, who spoke candidly about the challenges women often face in traditionally male-dominated fields.
“So, the men are, for the most part, not fully accepting of our abilities. Not that they don’t think, they see us as a weaker sex,” Davis-Buckle said.
She emphasized, however, that the presence of women in the service is not about competition but collaboration.
“One of the things I always say, we are not here to compete, we are here to complement,” she noted.
Organizers say the retreat forms part of a broader regional effort to support women in uniformed services, encourage leadership development, and build stronger professional networks across the Caribbean and South America.