Eugenia Charles

Eugenia Charles
Charles at the United Nations, New York, New York, United States in 1985
2nd Prime Minister of Dominica
In office 21 July 1980 – 14 June 1995
President	Aurelius Marie Clarence Seignoret Crispin Sorhaindo
Deputy	Anthony Moise Charles Maynard
Preceded by	Oliver Seraphin
Succeeded by	Edison James
Member of Parliament for Roseau Central
In office 24 March 1975 – 14 June 1995
Succeeded by	Charles Savarin
Personal details
Born	(1919-05-15)15 May 1919 Pointe Michel, Dominica
Died	6 September 2005(2005-09-06) (aged 86) Fort-de-France, Martinique
Political party	Freedom Party
Alma mater	University of Toronto London School of Economics

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 female lawyer in Dominica, she was Dominica's first, and to date only, female prime minister. She was the second female prime minister in the Caribbean after Lucina da Costa of the Netherlands Antilles. She was the first female 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 fourth longest-serving female prime minister, behind Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka and Indira Gandhi of India.^[1]

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