Eugenia Charles
Prime Minister of Dominica
Died when: 86 years 114 days (1035 months)Star Sign: Taurus
Dame Mary Eugenia Charles, DBE (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.
She held the record for the longest continuous tenure by any female Prime Minister, which was later broken by Sheikh Hasina.
She was also described as the "Iron Lady of the Caribbean."