Wikipedia

Eugenia Charles

Mary Eugenia Charles(15 May 1919 – 6 September 2005) was a Dominican politician who wasPrime Minister of Dominicafrom 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. The first female lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister. She was the second female prime minister in theCaribbeanafterLucina da Costaof theNetherlands Antilles.She was the first female in the Americas to be elected in her own right ashead of government.She served for the second longest period of any Dominican prime minister, and was the world's fourth longest-serving female prime minister, behindSheikh HasinaofBangladesh,Sirimavo BandaranaikeofSri LankaandIndira GandhiofIndia.[1]

Eugenia Charles
Charles in 1985
2ndPrime Minister of Dominica
In office
21 July 1980 – 14 June 1995
PresidentAurelius Marie
Clarence Seignoret
Crispin Sorhaindo
DeputyAnthony Moise
Charles Maynard
Preceded byOliver Seraphin
Succeeded byEdison James
Member of Parliament
forRoseau Central
In office
24 March 1975 – 14 June 1995
Succeeded byCharles Savarin
Personal details
Born(1919-05-15)15 May 1919
Pointe Michel,Dominica
Died6 September 2005(2005-09-06)(aged 86)
Fort-de-France,Martinique
Political partyFreedom Party
Alma materUniversity of Toronto
London School of Economics

She was also described as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean."[2][3]

Personal life

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Eugenia Charles was born on 15 May 1919, in the fishing village ofPointe MichelinSaint Luke Parish,Dominica. She was the daughter of John Baptiste Charles and Josephine Charles (néeDelauney),[4][5]the youngest of four children.[6]Her family was considered part of the "coloured bourgeoisie", descendants offree people of color.Her father was a mason who became a wealthy landowner and had business interests in export-import.[7]

She attended the Convent High School inRoseau,Dominica, which was then the island's only girls' secondary school, and St Joseph's Convent in Grenada.[5]Afterward Charles became interested in law while working at the colonial magistrate's court.[7]She worked for many years as assistant toAlastair Forbes.[8]Charles attended theUniversity of Torontoin Canada, receiving herLL.B.in 1947. She then moved to the United Kingdom to attend theLondon School of Economics,where she earned herLL.M.in 1949.[9][10]She was a member of the sororitySigma Gamma Rho.[11]She trained as abarristerat theInner Templeand wascalled to the barin London in 1947.[6]

She passed the bar and returned to Dominica, where she became the island's first female lawyer. She established a practice specializing in property law.[7]She served as President of the Dominica Bar Association during the 1970s.[12][13]She also worked as a director of the Dominican Cooperative Bank, which had been established by her father, and instituted the country's first student loan scheme.[6]

Charles never married nor had children. In 1991, she was made a Dame Commander of theOrder of the British Empire.[7]

Political career

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Charles meets with American PresidentRonald Reaganin the White House'sOval Officeabout ongoing events inGrenada

Charles began campaigning in politics during the 1960s against restrictions on press freedom. She wrote anonymous newspaper columns forThe HeraldandThe Starcriticising theDominica Labour Partygovernment.[5]In 1967, she became involved in the Freedom Fighters, an advocacy group which opposed the Seditious and Undesirable Publications Act.[6][5]In October 1968, the group merged with the National Democratic Movement of Dominica to become theDominica Freedom Party(DFP). The party held its first convention in June 1969 and Charles was appointed as its leader, a position she would hold until 1995.[7][6]

Charles contested theRoseau Northseat in the1970 general electionbut lost toPatrick John.She was elected to theHouse of Assemblyin the1975 general election,representing the constituency ofRoseau Centraland became theLeader of the Opposition.[7][5]Charles was a delegate at the 1977 constitutional conference atMarlborough Housein London and actively supported Dominica gaining full independence from British rule in 1978. In 1979, she was a member of the Committee for National Salvation, which created an interim government after the resignation of Patrick John.[5]

Prime minister

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Charles in Grenada in 1986

Charles became prime minister when the DFP swept the1980 general election,the party's first electoral victory.[14]She took over fromOliver Seraphin,who had taken over only the year before, when mass protests had forced the country's first prime minister, Patrick John, to step down from office. Her first term was focused on rebuilding infrastructure and disaster management asHurricane Davidhad hit Dominica on 29 August 1979.[5]She additionally served as Dominica'sForeign Ministerfrom 1980 to 1990,[15]Minister of Financefrom 1980 to 1995,[16]and as chairperson of theOrganisation of Eastern Caribbean States(OECS).[17]

In 1981, she faced two attemptedcoups d'état.That yearFrederick Newton,commander of theMilitary of Dominica,organised an attack on the police headquarters in Roseau, resulting in the death of a police officer.[18]Newton and five other soldiers were found guilty in the attack and sentenced to death in 1983. The sentences of the five accomplices were later commuted to life in prison, but Newton was executed in 1986.[18]

In 1981, a group of Canadian and American mercenaries, mostly affiliated withwhite supremacistandKu Klux Klangroups, planned a coup to restore former Prime Minister Patrick John to power. The attempt, which the conspirators codenamedOperation Red Dog,was thwarted by American federal agents inNew Orleans, Louisiana.It was soon facetiously dubbed the "Bayou of Pigs", referring to the failedBay of Pigs Invasionyears before in Cuba.[19]

Charles became more widely known to the outside world for her role in the lead-up to theUnited States Invasion of Grenadaon 25 October 1983. In the wake of the arrest and execution of Grenadian Prime MinisterMaurice Bishop,Charles, then serving as chair of the OECS, appealed to the United States, Jamaica, and Barbados for intervention.[7]She appeared on television with U.S. presidentRonald Reagan,supporting the invasion. JournalistBob Woodwardreported that the U.S. paid millions of dollars to the Dominica government, some of which was regarded by theCentral Intelligence Agencyas a "payoff", for Charles's support of the intervention.[20]

She was re-elected in the1985 general electionand the1990 general election.[5]Charles and her party were considered conservative by Caribbean standards. However, American observers considered many of her policies to be centrist or even leftist; for instance, she supported some social welfare programmes. Other issues that were important to her were anti-corruption laws and individual freedom.[original research?]For her uncompromising stance on this and other issues, she became known as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean" (after the original "Iron Lady",Margaret Thatcher).[21]

Later years and death

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With popularity declining during her third term, Charles retired in 1995. The DFP subsequently lost the1995 general election.[14]After retiring, Charles undertook speaking engagements in the United States and abroad. She became involved in former U.S. PresidentJimmy Carter'sCarter Center,which promotes human rights and observes elections to encourage fairness.

On 30 August 2005, Charles entered a hospital inFort-de-France,Martinique,forhip-replacementsurgery. She died from apulmonary embolismon 6 September, at the age of 86.[21][14]She was buried inPointe Michelon 14 September.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^"Eugenia Charles".University of London. Archived fromthe originalon 21 August 2020.Retrieved17 January2020.
  2. ^Edition 2005 (2003)."Eugenia Charles – prime minister of Dominica".Britannica.{{cite news}}:CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^"Eugenia Charles, 86, Is Dead; Ex-Premier of Dominica, Called 'Iron Lady'".The New York Times.Associated Press.9 September 2005.
  4. ^The International Who's Who 2004.Psychology Press. 2003. p. 302.ISBN978-1-85743-217-6.
  5. ^abcdefghi"Charles, Dame (Mary) Eugenia (1919–2005), prime minister of Dominica".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96671.ISBN978-0-19-861412-8.Retrieved12 August2021.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  6. ^abcdeSecretariat, Commonwealth (1999).Women in Politics: Voices from the Commonwealth.Commonwealth Secretariat. pp. 50–52.ISBN978-0-85092-569-2.
  7. ^abcdefgPattullo, Polly(8 September 2005)."Obituary: Dame Eugenia Charles".The Guardian.Retrieved26 August2009.
  8. ^"Sir Alastair Forbes".The Telegraph.11 August 2001.Retrieved19 January2021.
  9. ^"Hon Dame Eugenia Charles (LLM, 1949)".London School of Economics and Political Science.Retrieved19 January2021.
  10. ^Gomes, Sonia (21 March 2018)."Eugenia Charles – DBE, Iron Lady and Mamo".LSE History.Retrieved19 January2021.
  11. ^Grant, Teddy (12 November 2019)."5 Sigma Gamma Rho, Inc. Members in Politics".EBONY.Retrieved19 January2021.
  12. ^The Commonwealth Caribbean Law List, 1976.Organisation of Commonwealth Caribbean Bar Associations. 1976.
  13. ^Bulletin of Eastern Caribbean Affairs.University of West Indies. 1975.
  14. ^abcGoldman, Lawrence (2013).Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2005–2008.Oxford University Press.p. 210.ISBN978-0-19-967154-0.
  15. ^Current Biography Yearbook.H. W. Wilson Co. 1 January 1986. p. 89.
  16. ^"Dominica Freedom Party remembers Dame Eugenia Charles".dominicanewsonline.com/.7 September 2011.
  17. ^"Dame Mary Eugenia Charles".Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat.10 June 2007. Archived fromthe originalon 10 June 2007.Retrieved12 August2021.
  18. ^ab"Ex-Commander Hanged For Dominica Coup Role".The New York Times.9 August 1986.Retrieved26 August2009.
  19. ^Crask, Paul (1 January 2011).Dominica.Bradt Travel Guides. p. 15.ISBN978-1-84162-356-6.
  20. ^Woodward, Bob,Veil: the Secret Wars of the CIA 1981–1987,New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987, pp. 290, 300.
  21. ^ab"Eugenia Charles, Pioneering Dominica Leader Known As 'Iron Lady', Succumbs At 86".Jet.Johnson Publishing Company: 17. 10 October 2005.

Further reading

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Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Dominica
1980–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Leader of the Opposition (Dominica)
1975–1980 		Succeeded by
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