Dr Peggy Antrobus

Doctor of Science

Wednesday 15 July 2026 - Orator: Dr Marie-Annick Gournet

Pro Vice-Chancellor, distinguished guests, graduates, families and friends,

It is a privilege to speak today about Dr Peggy Antrobus, whose vision, scholarship and unwavering commitment to social justice have helped shape the global women's movement for more than five decades.

Although Peggy is unable to join us today, I had the pleasure of meeting her online recently. What struck me immediately was not simply the extraordinary breadth of her achievements, but her warmth, humility and generosity of spirit. She confessed that, at first, she had wondered why the University had chosen to honour her. But after hearing about Bristol's commitment to reparative futures and global civic engagement, she smiled and said: ’I now see the connection.’ It was a characteristically modest response from someone who has spent a lifetime championing justice, equality and dignity, and who spoke far less about her own accomplishments than about the causes and communities to which she has devoted her life.

Peggy's connection with Bristol began more than seventy years ago, when a young woman from Grenada arrived here in 1954, having won a scholarship to study Economics. She graduated in 1958 and returned to the Caribbean determined to contribute to its social and economic development. As Peggy herself has reflected, her career unfolded through a series of opportunities, many of them unexpected, that ultimately led her to work she now describes simply as her life's work: advancing the status of women.

Over the next five decades, Peggy became one of the Caribbean's foremost feminist scholars, authors and activists, and one of the most respected leaders in the international women's movement.

Her influence can be seen across governments, universities and international organisations. She established Jamaica's first government programme dedicated to advancing the status of women. She founded the pioneering Women and Development Unit at the University of the West Indies, creating a centre that helped shape feminist scholarship and policy throughout the Caribbean. She was a founding force behind the Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action and later led Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era; better known as DAWN, a network of feminist scholars and activists from across the Global South that transformed international thinking about gender, development and justice.

Alongside this remarkable leadership, Peggy has written extensively on women's rights, development and global justice. Her landmark book, The Global Women's Movement: Origins, Issues and Strategies, remains an influential contribution to feminist scholarship. As an adviser to governments and international agencies, she has consistently championed policies grounded in equity, dignity and inclusion.

Yet perhaps Peggy's greatest legacy lies not in the positions she has held or the books she has written, but in the institutions she has built and the people she has inspired. Reflecting on her career, she says that her greatest achievement has been helping to create programmes that have enabled women to strengthen their role in society and their contribution to human wellbeing.

Peggy has also reflected deeply on the influence of her years in Bristol. She arrived from the Caribbean having never encountered racism, and during her time here she experienced both the welcoming community of the University and the wider realities of post-war Britain. At the same time, world events, including the Suez Crisis, prompted her to question assumptions about colonialism, power and justice. Only many years later did she recognise how profoundly those experiences had shaped her thinking. She made the point that some of the experiences students have at university may take ‘a lifetime of reflection and critical thinking’ before ‘those seeds grow into the tree you become’.

That is a powerful message for today's graduates.

Your degree marks not the end of your education, but the beginning of a lifetime of learning. Peggy believes that the deepest lessons come not only through study, but through experience, reflection, challenge and the willingness to question our assumptions. For her, learning has always been inseparable from action, and knowledge has found its purpose in service to others.

Even today, Peggy continues to describe herself as an activist. She has said, simply, that ‘activists never retire’ while the struggle for social justice continues. It is a philosophy she has lived throughout her remarkable life, reminding us that education carries with it not only the privilege of knowledge, but also the responsibility to use it in the service of others.

Today, the University of Bristol celebrates one of its distinguished alumna, whose life has exemplified scholarship in the service of society.

Pro Vice-Chancellor, in recognition of her outstanding contributions to global feminism, her visionary leadership in advancing women's rights across the Caribbean and beyond, and her lifelong commitment to social justice, equity and human dignity, I present to you Peggy Antrobus as eminently worthy of the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.