Nathaniel Stewart/Freelance Photographer

Elsa Leo-Rhynie

Professor Elsa Leo-Rhynie is an accomplished scholar and authority on gender studies and education. She was appointed pro vice chancellor for undergraduate studies in August 2002 and had previously served as deputy principal of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies.

In 1977, she lectured in the Faculty of Education and between 1987 and 1992 she was executive director of the then Institute of Management and Production. She has been deputy principal of the Mona campus of UWI since 1996. Prior to this, she served as professor and regional coordinator of the UWI Centre for Gender and Development Studies (1992-1996). She was a research fellow then senior lecturer in educational psychology in the Faculty of Education, UWI. Professor Leo-Rhynie also taught secondary school science in Jamaica (1968-1977) and in England (1964 -1967).

Professor Leo-Rhynie's skills were not confined to the classroom. From 1992-1993, she served as a member of the Jamaica National Task Force on Crime and was also co-chair of the National Preparatory Commission which prepared Jamaica's Report on the Status of Women for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China. Professor Leo-Rhynie was appointed to the Privy Council of Jamaica in September 1996, and awarded the National Honour of Commander of the Order of Distinction (Officer class) in 2000.

She is also a member of the Council of the University of Technology, Jamaica, as well as of the governing boards of the University Hospital of the West Indies, United Way of Jamaica, GraceKennedy Foundation and the ICWI Group Foundation.

Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer

DianeAbbott

Diane Julie Abbott became the first black woman elected to the House of Commons in the 1987 general election. She remained the only black woman Member of Parliament for 10 years until she was joined in the Commons by Oona King in 1997.

Ms. Abbott, born on September 27, 1953 to Jamaican parents, is a British Labour Party Member of Parliament, representing the Hackney North and Stoke Newington constituency. She is seen as being to the left of New Labour and is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group.

She went to Harrow County Grammar School and then to Newnham College, Cambridge, where she read history. After university she became a fast-tracked civil servant(1976 to 1978), and then a "race relations officer" at the National Council for Civil Liberties from 1978 to 1980. Later in 1997 she served as Cabinet minister in the post-Labour Government.

Ms. Abbott was also a press officer at the Greater London Council under Ken Livingstone from 1985 to 1986 and head of press and public Relations at Lambert Council from 1986 to 1987. She is also a pundit alongside the Conservative politician and media personality Michael Portillo (who went to the same school in Harrow) on the BBC's weekly politics digest 'This Week'.

Abbot, who got married in 1991 but divorced in 1993, has one son.

Norman Grindley/ Deputy Chief Photographer

Edith Allwood-Anderson

Words like 'militant', 'unwavering' and 'tenacious' are often used to describe Edith Allwood-Anderson, the current President of the Nurses' Association of Jamaica (NAJ). She has garnered the reputation of being a 'fiery mother hen' for her nurse colleagues.

That reputation was reaffirmed in August 2006 when she stood at the helm of a prolonged nurses' wage battle with the Government, her proverbial broad back taking a beating from all angles. She stood her ground, unyielding in her support for the nurses' cause. In the end, she and her colleagues won, and on August 29, 2006, they signed a new wage agreement.

Mrs. Allwood-Anderson is certainly a tough cookie with a soft centre. Her fire comes from her passion for caring for others, a passion that she first discovered as a young girl when she had to tend to her mentally challenged sister. Since graduating from nursing school at age 21, Mrs. Allwood-Anderson has given more than 25 years of service to nursing. She has done stints at the Bellevue Hospital, Mandeville Public Hospital, and acted as a public health nurse.

She now sits in a role that she describes as "a politically-tough leadership role". Apart from leading the NAJ, is also a member of the International Council of Nurses, representing Jamaica, Canada and America.