Mary Eugenia Charles

Eugenia Charles (1983)

Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, DBE (born May 15, 1919 in Pointe Michel , † September 6, 2005 in Fort-de-France , Martinique ) was the first female Prime Minister of Dominica and the first head of government in the Caribbean region.

Life

Eugenia Charles began her political career in the 1960s as a dedicated Friedensbefürworterin and one of the founders of the Dominica Freedom Party ( Dominica Freedom Party ) whose moderator from the early 1970s until the 1995th She was first elected to the Dominican parliament in 1970, and five years later she became the opposition leader. On July 21, 1980, almost two years after independence from Great Britain was declared, Eugenia Charles was elected Prime Minister of Dominica. Until 1995 she led the government of the island state in this office . From 1980 to 1990 she also headed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As chairman of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States , she supported the US invasion of Grenada in 1983 after the assassination of the Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop .

Eugenia Charles was named Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1992 for her political achievements . On June 14, 1995, shortly after her 76th birthday, she withdrew from politics. Eugenia Charles died on September 6, 2005 in Martinique after a hip operation.

See also

• List of female heads of state and government

literature

• Eugenia Charles , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 01/2006 of January 7, 2006, in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
• Charles, Mary Eugenia , in: Jenny Uglow , Maggy Hendry: Macmillan Dictionary of Women's Biography . London: Macmillan, 1999 (3rd edition), ISBN 0333725735 , p. 119

Web links

• Female Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership)