Eugenia Charles
|
Dame Eugenia Charles DBE |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Prime Minister of Dominica | |
|
In office 21 July 1980 – 14 June 1995 |
|
| President |
Aurelius Marie Clarence Seignoret Crispin Sorhaindo |
| Preceded by | Oliver Seraphin |
| Succeeded by | Edison James |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
15 May 1919 Pointe Michel, Dominica |
| Died | 6 September 2005 (aged 86) Fort-de-France, Martinique |
| Political party | Freedom Party |
| Alma mater |
University of Toronto London School of Economics |
Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, DBE (15 May 1919 – 6 September 2005) was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. She was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister, as well as the nation's longest-serving prime minister. She was the second female prime minister in the Caribbean after Lucinda da Costa of the Netherlands Antilles, and the first woman elected in her own right as head of government in the Americas. She was the world's third longest-serving female Prime Minister, behind Indira Gandhi of India and Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, and the world's longest continuously serving female Prime Minister ever. Charles was also Dominica's first female lawyer.
Charles was born in the fishing village of Pointe Michel in Saint Luke parish, to a "coloured bourgeoise" family.
She attended Convent School in Dominica, then, island's only girls' secondary school, and became interested in law while working at the colonial magistrate's court. She worked for many years as assistant to Alastair Forbes. She attended the University of Toronto in Canada, before moving to the United Kingdom to attend the London School of Economics. She was a member of the sorority Sigma Gamma Rho. She passed the bar and returned to Dominica, where she became the island's first female lawyer, establishing a practice specialising in property law.
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