overthrow her government. These were just some of the major challenges with which she had to cope during her 15-year tenure and, although she rose admirably to them all, by 1995, battle-weary, though still regarded as the ‘iron lady of the Caribbean’, she called it a day in favour of one of her male senior party colleagues. Dame Eugenia’s legacy has not gone unnoticed in her country, in the region or even the world. Well after her retirement, she continued to receive accolades, particularly for her innovative approach to development. Her brave entry into politics came at a time when women who ventured into that arena asked no quarter, expected no concessions and got neither. Several books have been written about her and she continues to be a role model for many an aspiring female politician, not the least myself. I fully acknowledge her remarkable strength of character and determination as being the motivation for me to enter politics. Wome n ’s p o l i t i c a l l e a d e r s h i p – a v i ew f r om t h e Ca r i b b e a n My foray into politics was not dissimilar from that of my mentor, Dame Eugenia. In the late 1940s and up to the early 1960s, my late uncle was a politician who was deemed to possess high oratory skills. People in my country walked, or rode on horseback, for miles and miles to come to the capital, Roseau, to listen to him whether they agreed with his politics or not. It was not lost on me that at that time there were just three women on the political scene. My impressionable mind took in only that women were part of that scene. Coupled with the fact that my father and mother have instilled in me – that I could do anything I wanted once I applied myself. My subconscious, if not myself, was already formulating my future. Dame Eugenia came after, but she cemented in me the desire to become involved. Commonwealth Governance Handbook 2013/14 31 Hon. Alix Boyd Knights is the Speaker of the House of Assembly of Dominica and former chairperson of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians.
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