Role Registered nurse Siblings Errol Barrow | Name Nita Barrow | |
 | ||
Prime Minister Lloyd Erskine SandifordOwen Arthur Born 15 November 1916 ( 1916-11-15 ) Similar People Errol Barrow, Anne Firth Murray, Frances Kissling, Laura Lederer | ||
Organizations founded Global Fund for Women | ||
Dame Ruth Nita Barrow (15 November 1916 – 19 December 1995) was the first and only female Governor-General of Barbados. She was a nurse and humanitarian activist from Barbados. She served as Governor-General of Barbados from 6 June 1990 until her death on 19 December 1995. She was also the sister of Errol Barrow, first Prime Minister of Barbados.
Contents
Life and career
Ruth Nita Barrow was born in Barbados, the second of her parents' five children. She trained as a nurse, midwife and health care administrator, holding a variety of nursing, public health and public administration jobs in Barbados and Jamaica in the 1940s/1950s.
In 1985, at the Nairobi World Conference on Women, Barrow served as the chair of the NGO Forum. She was a member of the Commonwealth Group of Eminent Persons that visited South Africa in 1986. During that mission she successfully thwarted South Africa's military restrictions, through entering the restricted area of Alexandra township disguised in African garb and head-dress.
In 1980 Barrow was conferred the highest honour in Barbados; she was made a Dame of St. Andrew (DA) of the Order of Barbados. She was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing.
Legacy
The Errol & Nita Barrow Educational Trust raises funds and make financial awards to enable Bajans and Commonwealth Caribbean citizens to pursue a course of study that will further the development of Barbados and the Caribbean.
Die Nita Barrow Collection, a collection of documents about Nita Barrow's life and times, has been enscribed into UNESCO's list on world documentary heitage, the Memory of the World Register.