.I have to say that nearly a century after women in the United States got the right to vote and decades after the women's liberation movement here, neither of which I was alive for, plus the ongoing injustices women around the world continue to face (particularly in the Middle East), it warms my heart to see women take their place on a national and international scale. Just like the election of President Barack Obama swelled so many people's hearts with joy, pride does heighten when someone who looks like them or shares a close similarity achieves something big.

On May 25, the twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago elected its first female Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Not to mention she won in a snap election, or an election called early and unexpectedly by outgoing PM Patrick Manning. She joins the late Dame Mary Eugenia Charles of Dominica, Janet Jagan of Guyana and Portia Simpson Miller of Jamaica who have served as president or prime minister in their English-speaking Caribbean nations. But getting the seat is just the beginning. Change is the next step. The 58-year-old former lawyer and professor has some political cogwebs to clean out of government. Crime is steadily rising. And racial discord between Indo-Trinis (like PM Persad-Bissessar) and Afro-Trinis (like former PM Manning, current President George Maxwell Richards, and myself) continues to bubble and fester. Post-election euphoria is like a honeymoon. Now the marriage really begins.

After learning Persad-Bissessar won, I found her Facebook page which has daily greetings and notes on what's happening in T&T. Here's an entry from yesterday:

"Good Morning Trinidad and Tobago! Are you ready to continue changing your country for the better?"

You go girl! I'll be watching.

Shanida Smith Carter is a television producer and writer in New York City. She also teaches college courses on Latin American and Caribbean. She lives in New Jersey with her husband.

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