The precondition of success and entry to the top politics is primarily one's will - that is, making one's own decisions, because it means having to leave your home or move your family, quit social networking and build new contacts, [since] central governments are seated in capitals.

Some countries need extra stimulus in specific areas. Something has to be done against high youth unemployment in Greece and Spain, for example. But in the end, there is no way around it: The debt levels have to come down.

I want to use my position of influence to change the laws of the land to the benefit of the women of Trinidad and Tobago, divide the economic pie more evenly and appoint more women to positions within the government.

There is an English saying, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." Women often become these tough ones.

It was my mother, despite the limitations placed on women of her time by society, who insisted I be allowed to go abroad to study, in sturdy defiance of the male elders of the family, who protested and decided that I should be married off instead.

I am a person of action. If I see I can bring a positive change, I will go for it, never mind that something might be hard to achieve.

I have led the way for moving women from traditional roles to strategic positions and inspired girls and women throughout Africa to seek leadership positions.