Ronelle King is an Afro-Barbadian Human Rights Activist and Caribbean Feminist.
In 2016, she founded the viral cyber-feminist movement #lifeinleggings, which later evolved into a grassroots organization, Life In Leggings: Caribbean Alliance Against Gender-based Violence. As Director, her role is to ensure that the organization fulfills its commitment to reducing the region’s pervasive rape culture and helping to eradicate regional occurrences of gender-based violence.
In 2017, she conceptualized and executed Reclaim Our Streets: Women’s Solidarity March, the region’s first simultaneous and largest civil society-led grassroots march against street harassment and other forms of gender-based violence which make public spaces unsafe for women and girls.
In 2018, she co-curated Insurgents: Redefining Rebellion In Barbados, an interactive exhibition which was launched on International Women’s Day 2019 and sought to highlight the intrinsic activism of Barbadians as proactive instigators of social change.
In 2019, she conceptualized and founded Pink Parliament, an initiative which seeks to increase women’s participation in decision-making spaces by encouraging young women and girls between the ages of 14-20 to consider careers in politics.
In 2021, she founded Redefining Masculinities, a gender transformative initiative that seeks to reduce occurrences of violence by encouraging men and boys to interrogate toxic masculinity and its negative implications on the lives of women, children, men and gender non-conforming people in order to develop non-oppressive expressions of masculinity and cultivate healthier relationships.
Through her work, she has been a driving force in highlighting key issues pertaining to gender rights, youth development and the protection of marginalized communities. She views her work as a small role in helping to create an inclusive, sustainable and equitable region for all.
In acknowledgement of her dedication to reducing gender inequality in Barbados and the wider Caribbean, she was awarded the 2017 Youth Hero (Female) Award by the Barbados Youth Development Council and the 2018 Queen’s Young Leader Award by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace.
Ronelle King 