Dame Mary Eugenia Charles (15 May 1919 – 6 September 2005) was a Dominican politician who was Prime Minister of Dominica from 21 July 1980 until 14 June 1995. The first woman lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, woman prime minister. She was the second woman prime minister in the Caribbean after Lucina da Costa of the Netherlands Antilles. She was the first woman in the Americas to be elected in her own right as head of government. She served for the second longest period of any Dominican prime minister, and was the world's fifth longest-serving woman prime minister or head of government, behind Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, Angela Merkel of Germany and Indira Gandhi of India.
She was also described as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean".
Personal life
Eugenia Charles was born on 15 May 1919, in the fishing village of Pointe Michel in Saint Luke Parish, Dominica. She was the daughter of John Baptiste "J. B." Charles and Josephine Charles ( Delauney), the youngest of four children. Her family was considered part of the "coloured bourgeoisie", descendants of free people of color. Her father was a mason who became a wealthy landowner and had business interests in export-import.
She attended the Convent High School in Roseau, Dominica, which was then the island's only girls' secondary school, and St Joseph's Convent in Grenada. Charles attended the University of Toronto in Canada, receiving her LL.B. in 1947. She then moved to the United Kingdom to attend the London School of Economics, where she earned her LL.M. in 1949. She was a member of the sorority Sigma Gamma Rho. She trained as a barrister at the Inner Temple and was called to the bar in London in 1947. 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. She took over from Oliver 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 as Hurricane David had hit Dominica on 29 August 1979. Minister of Finance from 1980 to 1995, and as chairperson of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
In 1981, she faced two attempted coups d'état. That year Frederick Newton, commander of the Military of Dominica, organised an attack on the police headquarters in Roseau, resulting in the death of a police officer. 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.
Charles became more widely known to the outside world for her role in the lead-up to the United States Invasion of Grenada on 25 October 1983. In the wake of the arrest and execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, Charles, then serving as chair of the OECS, appealed to the United States, Jamaica, and Barbados for intervention.
She was re-elected in the 1985 general election and the 1990 general election.
Later years and death
With popularity declining during her third term, Charles retired in 1995. The DFP subsequently lost the 1995 general election.