Sandra Prunella Mason was the first president of Barbados, serving from 2021 to 2025 following the country's transition to a republic. Born in Saint Philip in 1949, she built a career as a jurist and diplomat, breaking gender barriers in the Barbadian legal system and serving as the nation's eighth and final governor-general.
Legal Education and Early Practice
Mason began her career teaching at Princess Margaret Secondary School before working at Barclays Bank. She later enrolled at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1973. In 1975, she earned a Legal Education Certificate from the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago, becoming the first woman attorney-at-law from Barbados to do so. Later that year, she became the first woman admitted to the bar in Barbados.
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Beginning in 1978, Mason served as a magistrate in the Juvenile and Family Court. Her international work included serving on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from 1991 to 1999 and acting as an ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil between 1992 and 1994. In 1997, she became the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Barbados. By 2008, she was sworn in as an Appeals Judge, marking her as the first woman to serve on the Barbados Court of Appeals.
Transition to the Presidency
Appointed the eighth governor-general of Barbados in 2018, Mason received the Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George the same year. In 2020, she announced the government's plan to abolish the monarchy. On 20 October 2021, Parliament elected her as the inaugural president. She assumed the office on 30 November 2021, coinciding with the 55th anniversary of Barbadian independence.
Fast facts
- Born: 17 January 1949, Saint Philip, Barbados
- President of Barbados: 2021–2025
- Governor-General of Barbados: 2018–2021
- Education: University of the West Indies, Hugh Wooding Law School, University of Windsor
- Honours: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George
Questions readers ask
Was Sandra Mason the first woman to serve on the Barbados Supreme Court?
Yes, she was the first woman to serve on the country's Supreme Court.
Which international organizations did she represent?
She served on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and was the first appointee from Barbados to the Commonwealth Secretariat Arbitral Tribunal.
Achievements
- Governor-General of Barbados (2018–2021)
- President of Barbados (2021–2025)
- Dame Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George — 2018
- Order of Saint Michael and Saint George — 2018
- Educated at University of Windsor Faculty of Law and University of the West Indies
