1995-11-07: (Claudette Werleigh Becomes Haiti’s First Female Prime Minister, a Marker of Progress in a Political System That Had Never Previously Granted Wom…

1995-11-07: (Claudette Werleigh Becomes Haiti’s First Female Prime Minister, a Marker of Progress in a Political System That Had Never Previously Granted Women Formal Executive Power): On November 7, 1995, Claudette Werleigh became Haiti’s first female prime minister, a milestone in a nation whose political history had been dominated by military strongmen, authoritarian presidents, and male-led factions since independence. Born on November 10, 1946, Werleigh was a diplomat and educator who served during the final months of Aristide’s restored presidency. Clinton also made an official trip to Haiti in 1995, the first U.S. presidential visit since Roosevelt’s in 1934. The same year, Aristide officially resigned from the priesthood, formalizing a separation that the Vatican had imposed years earlier.