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 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 established a record for the longest continuous service of any woman Prime Minister. 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 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. Afterward Charles became interested in law while working at the colonial magistrate's court. She worked for many years as assistant to Alastair Forbes. 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 passed the bar and returned to Dominica, where she became the island's first female lawyer. She established a practice specialising in property law. 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. Charles never married nor had children. In 1991, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Political career Charles began