HISTORY OF WOMEN IN POLITICS
franchise lasted for 25 years. Women finally got the right to vote in 1944, and that same year Ms Misick Morrell became the first woman in Bermuda elected to a parish vestry. Ms Edna Williams Tucker [mother of Lady Madree Richards, the wife of Bermuda’s first Black Premier] was the first woman to vote in Bermuda. In 1946, the Bermuda Woman’s
Suffrage Society changed its name to the Bermuda Woman's Civic and Political Association to reflect their
Browne-Evans became the first black woman elected to Parliament in May 1963. Ms Dorothy F. Thompson, a white Member of the newly-formed Bermuda Progressive Labour Party (PLP), also won a seat in the same general election. Two years after their historic election, universal adult suffrage was granted to all Bermudians over the age of 25 in 1968.
Elected to represent Devonshire North, Dame Lois
Labour Party (PLP) candidate, was successfully elected; as was MsGloria Darrell McPhee, a black United Bermuda Party (UBP) candidate who defeated PLP Leader Mr Walter Robinson. First elected to represent Hamilton Parish West, Ms Darrell McPhee went on to represent Pembroke East Central. She served until December 1980 and was the first woman Cabinet Minister, with responsibility for health and then education. Dr Barbara Ball, OBE, served as Secretary General of the Bermuda Industrial Union and editor of the Worker’s Voice newspaper. She represented the constituency of Pembroke East Central and served until 1985.
The 1970s 1972 was a significant year for women in politics, with Ms Helene Darrell Brown and Ms Anita Rowling Smith (both of the UBP) bringing the number of women elected to Parliament that year to five. It should be noted that Mrs A. Helene Darrell Brown,
broader aim to promote the active participation of women (black or white) in every branch of the colony's government. Four years after gaining the vote, women got their first representatives in Parliament, with the election of Ms Hilda Aitkin and Ms Edna Irene Watson on 20 May 1948. Ms Aitken was elected to represent Smith’s Parish, while Ms Watson was elected to represent Paget Parish. Both ladies served until 1953.
The 1960s Ten years passed before the next woman was elected to Parliament. In 1963, with the franchise extended to all people aged 25- years and over, Ms Lois Marie
Title page: A traditional chimney amidst Poinciana flowers; Above: The ceramic plate of Queen Victoria on the House of Assembly.
Browne-Evans was a Member of Parliament from 1963 to 2003. She was Bermuda’s first female political leader and the first female opposition leader in the Commonwealth (1968); the first PLP Minister of Legislative Affairs (1998); the first elected attorney general (1999); and was appointed a Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) by Her Majesty the Queen for her services to Bermuda in 1999. At the next election in 1968, Dr Barbara Ball, a white Progressive
14 | The Parliamentarian | 2009: Issue One - Bermuda
representing Hamilton East, joined her sister Ms Darrell McPhee to give Bermuda its first parliamentary sister team. Mrs Brown served until May 1976, while Mrs Anita Rowling Smith, JP, represented St. George’s North and served until December 1980.
The 1980s In February of 1980, Dr Marjorie Bean was appointed to the Legislative Council; she became the first and only woman to serve in that body where she remained until November 1980. In December 1980, Ms Ann Cartwright DeCouto, was elected to represent the UBP in the House. She was appointed to the cabinet in 1981 where she first held responsibility for community affairs and then for planning and the environment and later, as Minister of Legislative and Delegated Affairs. She served until November 1998. Ms Jennifer M. Smith was also
appointed that same month to the reconstituted second chamber, now titled the Senate, becoming the first woman to serve in that body. In 1985, Dr Norma Cox Astwood became the second woman appointed to that body (as an independent Member). In 1987, Senator Dr Astwood became the first woman Vice President of the Senate, where she served until November 1996. She is also a founding member of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP). In 1985, there were just three women in the House of Assembly, with first-time UBP MP, Ms Grace Pitcher-Bell, joining colleague Ms Cartwright Decouto and the PLP’s Ms Lois Browne-Evans.
Mrs Grace A. Bell retired at the
1998 general election when she was elected to represent St. George’s South. In July 1987, a third woman – Ms Linda Milligan-Whyte, a UBP Government Member – was appointed to the Senate, but resigned in November, 1990. She was later reappointed in October 1994 but resigned again in April 1997.
The 1990s In 1990, three women remained in the Senate, with Government Senators Pamela Gordon and Cindy Trimm joining independent Senator Dr Norma Cox Astwood (now Lady Blackman). Rev. Dr Cindy Trimm, JP, who is currently an internationally renowned motivational speaker, served in the Senate until April 1992. In 1992, Hon. Dame Pamela Gordon Banks, DBE, JP, was appointed to the Cabinet as the Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation and was elected to represent Southampton West in 1993. Dame Pamela became Bermuda’s first woman Premier on 25 March 1997 and served until 9 November 1998 when she became leader of the opposition. She served in that position until
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