1. Mia Mottley is Barbados' first prime minister under its republican system, following constitutional changes she introduced that abolished the country's constitutional monarchy.
44 Facts About Mia Mottley
1. 2.
Mia Mottley was twice the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Assembly of Barbados first from 2008 to 2010 then from 2013 to 2018.
3.
Mia Mottley won a second term in office at the 2022 general election, sweeping all 30 seats in the legislature in a snap election that she called.
4.
Mia Mottley is viewed as a leading candidate to succeed Antonio Guterres as the next Secretary-General of the United Nations.
5.
Mia Mottley is the granddaughter of Ernest Deighton Mia Mottley, a real estate broker and successful politician particularly at the parish level.
6.
Mia Mottley was the first Mayor of Bridgetown, representing Bridgetown in the House of Assembly from 1946, who belonged to the conservative Barbados National Party.
7.
Mia Mottley was granted the Ordinary Commander of the Civil Division for public services in Barbados in June 1962 and assisted Wynter Algernon Crawford, Barbados's Trade Minister, at the Independent Conference in London during June and July 1966.
8.
Mia Mottley's uncle, named Ernest Deighton Mia Mottley, became the political leader of the short-lived Christian Social Democratic Party created in March 1975.
9.
Mia's father Elliott Deighton Mottley was a barrister who sat in the House of Assembly for a relatively short time, vacating the seat to become consul-general in New York.
10.
Mia Mottley was educated at Eagle Hall School, Harrison College, Middle Temple and the Inns of Court School of Law.
11.
Mia Mottley once served as Bermuda's attorney-general and sits on the Court of Appeal of Belize.
12.
Mia Mottley married Mia's mother Santa Amor Tappin in December 1964, three years after being called to the Bar, and was elected to represent Bridgetown in May 1969.
13.
Mia Mottley was educated at Merrivale Preparatory School, the United Nations International School, and Queen's College.
14.
Mia Mottley later studied at the London School of Economics and was awarded a law degree from the University of London in 1986.
15.
Mia Mottley first entered Barbadian politics in 1991, when she lost an election race in St Michael North East against Leroy Brathwaite.
16.
Mia Mottley was elected general secretary of the Barbados Labour Party in 1996.
17.
Mia Mottley was appointed Attorney-General of Barbados and Minister of Home Affairs in August 2001 and is the first female to hold this position.
18.
Mia Mottley is the youngest ever Queen's Counsel in Barbados.
19.
Mia Mottley is credited with being the visionary behind the Education Sector Enhancement Programme, popularly known as "EduTech", which aims to increase the number of young people contributing to the island's sustainable social, cultural and economic development.
20.
In Youth Affairs, Mia Mottley directed the establishment of the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme and a National Youth Development Programme.
21.
Two years later, Mia Mottley became the second female deputy prime minister and chairman of the Social Council of Barbados and the Deputy Chairman of Barbados's Economic Council.
22.
Mia Mottley held the chairmanship of a number of key Cabinet sub-committees, notably on Telecommunications Reform and on oversight of the administrative and legislative initiatives to prepare Barbados for the advent of the Caribbean Single Market and Economy.
23.
Mia Mottley is the first woman to lead the party, as well as the country's first female opposition leader.
24.
Mia Mottley was sworn in as opposition leader on 7 February 2008.
25.
Mia Mottley promised the people that the Barbados Labour Party would be a strong and unified Opposition that would fight for the rights of all citizens in the country.
26.
On 18 October 2010, Mia Mottley was ousted as Leader of the Opposition following a vote of no-confidence by five of her parliamentary colleagues.
27.
Mia Mottley was sworn in as Barbados's first female prime minister on 25 May 2018.
28.
In May 2018, Mia Mottley disclosed previously uncovered financial obligations of the state, saying that the new government inherited a large debt.
29.
Mia Mottley announced that new government had no other choice than to ask the IMF to facilitate debt restructuring.
30.
Mia Mottley addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 27 September 2019 with a 39-minute speech centred on climate change and its effects on Barbados and other Caribbean nations.
31.
In 2020, Mia Mottley served as the Chairperson of the Caribbean Community bloc, a rotating position held for six months.
32.
Mia Mottley argued that after more than 54 years of independence, it was time for Barbados to "fully leave our colonial past behind".
33.
On 27 July 2021, the Day of National Significance in Barbados, Mia Mottley announced that Barbados's cabinet had decided that the country would become a parliamentary republic by 30 November.
34.
Mia Mottley has been criticised in relation to the way the establishment of the republic was handled, without a referendum on the issue having been held.
35.
Mia Mottley addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 24 September 2021 with a short speech to support UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' warnings that the world is moving in the wrong direction.
36.
Mia Mottley threw away her original script and instead gave a passionate post in which she called for global, moral leadership in the fight against climate change, economic and technological inequality, racism and unfair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines.
37.
On 20 June 2022, it was reported that Mia Mottley had tested positive for COVID-19.
38.
Mia Mottley hosted a retreat convened in Barbados at the end of July 2022 with senior United Nations and International Monetary Fund officials, the Rockefeller and Open Society Foundations, academics and civil society, and other international figures, following which she laid out the "Bridgetown Agenda", offering practical solutions to reform the international financial system in connection with halting climate change.
39.
On 23 September 2022, Mia Mottley delivered the inaugural Kofi Annan Memorial Lecture, hosted by the Kofi Annan Foundation, in partnership with the International Peace Institute, Open Society Foundations and International Crisis Group.
40.
In November 2022, Mia Mottley delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, with the theme being "Social Bonding and Decolonisation in the Context of the Climate Crisis: Perspectives from the Global South".
41.
Mia Mottley addressed the United Nations General Assembly again in September 2024, succeeding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as speaker.
42.
In December 2020, Mia Mottley was named Person of the Year by Caribbean National Weekly, along with Oliver Mair.
43.
In May 2022, Mia Mottley was featured on the cover of TIME magazine, the first Barbadian to do so, and was named one of "The 100 Most Influential People of 2022", in recognition of her outspoken advocacy for addressing climate change.
44.
In December 2022, Mia Mottley was named on the BBC's 100 Women list as one of the world's inspiring and influential women of the year, and by the Financial Times on "The FT's 25 most influential women of 2022".