Bridgetown, Barbados - While Dominica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago are among the countries in the Caribbean and Americas region where women ministers are nearing or exceeding the gender parity position of 30 per cent of representatives, the number of women in executive government and in parliament worldwide has stagnated.

UN Women MCO-Caribbean is supporting the Ministry of Social Transformation and Human Resource Development in Antigua and Barbuda, with the development of a database of beneficiaries for the country's main cash transfer programme for households living in poverty - the "Board of Guardians" programme.

The 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women will open on 27 February at United Nations headquarters, focused on the theme of empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, sustainable development and current challenges.