Dame Mary Eugenia Charles was born on 15 May 1919 in Pointe Michel, Dominica, the West Indian island over which she became the first female Caribbean prime minister in 1980. After attending schools in Dominica and Grenada, she completed her education in Canada, where she graduated with a law degree from the University of Toronto in 1949, and thus became Dominica’s first female lawyer. Returning to her native island, she entered local politics and founded the Dominica Freedom Party (DFP) in 1968. She won election to the House of Assembly in 1970 and served from 1975 to 1980 as an effective leader of the opposition. Dame Eugenia Charles remained at Dominica’s helm until the DFP’s defeat at the polls in 1995. She had led her party to an unprecedented three consecutive electoral triumphs. ln 1991 she was elevated to the rank of Dame Commander of the British Empire. In addition to her political activities and her legal practice, she was for many years a director of the Fort Young Hotel and Dominica Cooperative Bank. Although she was generally cautious and conservative in her politics, she remained a consistent advocate of social welfare programmes and limited state intervention. She died on 6 September 2005.
CHARLES, Eugenia
