Mabel Moir James

Mabel Moir James (1917 – 2010) was the first woman political minister in Dominica. She was also active in women's rights movements and founded the Women's Guild in Dominica.

Biography

Moir James was born in 1917 to a Scottish father and an African mother.[1][2] Before entering politics, she worked with her husband, a pharmacist, in a drug store.[1][3] She became a member of the Dominica Labour Party and unsuccessfully contested the 1961 general election.[2][4] She won a seat for the Western District in the 1966 general election. She was appointed as the Minister of Communications and Works, the first woman to be a government minister of Dominica (as Phylis Shand Allfrey was a minister of the Federation of the West Indies).[1] She helped to found the Women's Guild in Dominica.[5]

In 1967, Dominica received associated statehood from Britain, and Moir-James became the Minister of Home Affairs the same year.[1][6] In this role, she focused on domestic violence, child support, sick leave, affordable housing and women's rights.[2][4] Alongside Nicholson Ducreay and Wills Stevens, she challenged Edward Oliver LeBlanc as leader of the party prior to the 1970 general election. They were concerned that LeBlanc opposed foreign investment in the country. LeBlanc formed the LeBlanc Labour Party in response and Ducreay and Moir James both lost re-election.[2][7][8]

Legacy

Moir James received a state funeral on 1 February 2010. She was buried at the Roseau Public Cemetery.[5]

References
  1. Honychurch, Lennox Edward. "Moir-James, Mabel (1917– )". Dominica. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  2. Umoren, Imaobong (18 August 2020). "'It's Only Leftist Women Who Talk that Damn Nonsense About Women Being at a Disadvantage': Eugenia Charles's Gender Politics in Dominica". Gender & History. 33 (1): 269–285. doi:10.1111/1468-0424.12492. ISSN 0953-5233. S2CID 225435375.
  3. Bissessar, Ann Marie (2014). "Challenges to Women's Leadership in Ex-Colonial Societies". International Journal of Gender & Women's Studies. 2 (3): 13–35. doi:10.15640/ijgws.v2n3a2. ISSN 2333-6021.
  4. Hosein, Gabrielle; Parpart, Jane (2016). Negotiating Gender, Policy and Politics in the Caribbean: Feminist Strategies, Masculinist Resistance and Transformational Possibilities. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-78348-752-3.
  5. "Official Funeral for the Late Mable Moir James, Former Member of the House of Assembly". Dominica News Online. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. Vol. 1 (1st ed.). Sage Publications, Inc. 2011. p. 420. ISBN 978-1412976855.
  7. Journal of Eastern Caribbean Studies. Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies. 1997.
  8. Admin (1 July 2017). "Short overview of the political life of Nicholson A.N. Ducreay". Dominica News Online. Retrieved 29 January 2023.

Further reading
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