Dame Billie Antoinette Miller, DA,

OOC OOC may refer to: * Out of context, logical fallacy * Out of character, breaking character in theatrics and roleplay *Original Omnibus Company, a range of scale-model Buses and Trams released by Corgi Classics *Old Oak Common, an area of London * ...

(born 8 January 1944) is a Barbadian politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister. Miller is a member of the

Barbados Labour Party The Barbados Labour Party (BLP), colloquially known as the "Bees", is a social democratic political party in Barbados established in 1938. Led by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, it is the governing party of Barbados and the sole ruling party i ...

(BLP).

Early life and education

Billie Miller's father, the late Frederick Edward Miller, was himself a parliamentarian of distinction, holding the Ministerial portfolios of Health and Social Services from 1956 to 1961, while her mother Mildred Miriam (''née'' Lashley) was a nurse. Miller was educated at Queen's College in Barbados, King's College, Durham University, and the

Council of Legal Education The Council of Legal Education (CLE) was an English supervisory body established by the four Inns of Court to regulate and improve the legal education of barristers within England and Wales. History The Council was established in 1852 by the Inns ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career and politics

She was called to the

Bar of England and Wales Barristers in England and Wales are one of the two main categories of lawyer in England and Wales, the other being solicitors. Barristers have traditionally had the role of handling cases for representation in court, both defence and prosecutio ...

in 1968 and to the Bar of Barbados in 1969, becoming the island's first woman barrister. She was a practising attorney from 1969 to 1976 and 1987–1994. She was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1994 within the government of Prime Minister

Owen Arthur Owen Seymour Arthur, PC (17 October 194927 July 2020) was a Barbadian politician who served as the fifth prime minister of Barbados from 6 September 1994 to 15 January 2008. He is the longest-serving Barbadian prime minister to date. He also s ...

, and was also charged with the responsibility of Leader of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible governme ...

and MP for the

constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger State (polity), state (a country, administrative region, ...

of the City of Bridgetown. She later gave up that post during a cabinet reshuffle after the 2003 elections, in which the BLP maintained power. In 1999 she has also headed the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Miller began her political career in 1976 when she was elected Member of Parliament for the City of Bridgetown in a by-election. A few months later, she fought and won her seat again in the General Elections. She served as Minister of Health and National Insurance from 1976 to 1981 and was the first female to sit in the

Cabinet of Barbados The Cabinet are individuals of Barbados which execute the duties of the Government of Barbados. Under a Parliamentary republic , these powers are vested nominally by the President of Barbados, but are exercised in practice by a Cabinet of Minis ...

. Re-elected to Parliament in 1981, she was appointed Minister of Education with the Culture portfolio being added in 1985. Following the 1986 General Elections when the Barbados Labour Party lost at the polls, she was appointed to the Senate where she served as Leader of Opposition Business. She was again elected Member for the City of Bridgetown in the General Elections of 1991, and served as Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 1993 to 1994. In September 1994, when the Barbados Labour Party was returned to government, Miller was re-elected as the member for the City of Bridgetown for the fourth time.

Roles and responsibilities

Very active in the civic and non-governmental arena, she has been Chairperson (the first woman) of the Executive of the

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head of ...

, and of the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America, and serving as the largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribb ...

’s Women in Development Unit; President of the

International Planned Parenthood Federation The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is a global non-governmental organisation with the broad aims of promoting sexual and reproductive health, and advocating the right of individuals to make their own choices in family p ...

/Western Hemisphere Region; Vice–President of the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development and President of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States Council of Ministers. She was also a member of the

/Central Council and the UN Population Fund’s Advisory Panel of Activities Concerning Women. Miller served as Chairperson of the NGO Planning Committee of the International Conference on Population and Development held in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

in 1994. She has also served as Secretary-Treasurer of the Barbados Bar Association; Legal Adviser to Women in Action; and as a member of the Board of Directors of

Life of Barbados Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for growth, reaction to stimuli, metabolism, energy tran ...

Ltd; the

Planned Parenthood Federation of America The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care in the United States and globally. It is a tax-exempt corporation under Internal Reven ...

Inc.; Inter-American Dialogue; and on the Board of Trustees Of International Commentary Service. She was a member of both the International Federation of Women Lawyers from 1975–1976 and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative’s Advisor Group during 1990–1992. She was the Chairperson of the

Association of Caribbean States The Association of Caribbean States (ACS; es, Asociación de Estados del Caribe; french: Association des États de la Caraïbe) is an advisory association of nations centered on the Caribbean Basin. It was formed with the aim of promoting cons ...

’ Ministerial Council; President of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Parliamentary Group on Population and Development for the Caribbean and Latin-America; Chairperson of the

’s Advisory Council on Women in Development; and vice-chairperson of the

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration, abbreviated to CMAG, is a group of representatives of members of the Commonwealth of Nations that is responsible for upholding the Harare Declaration. That Declaration dictates ...

Awards

Ms Miller was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. She was appointed Grand Officer of the National Order of Benin on 23 June 2000, for her contribution to the negotiations that led to the new Partnership Agreement between

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States The Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) is a group of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. Formerly known as African, Caribbean and Pacific Group ...

. She is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue. She is also the recipient of the Barbados

Centennial Award The Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences bestowed a Centennial AwardThere are other Counties and Organisations who have a Centennial Award system. in the 46th FAMAS Awards (1997) in 1998 to celebrate the centennial of Philippine independence. ...

2000, when Miller was conferred the highest honour in Barbados; she was also made a Dame of St. Andrew (DA) of the

Order of Barbados The Order of Barbados is a national Order of honours and decorations for Barbados. History The first Order of Barbados was instituted by Queen Elizabeth II by letters patent dated 25 July 1980. With Barbados becoming a republic on 30 November ...

in 2003. On 26 June 2001, she was awarded as Grand Cross of the National Order of Juan Mora Fernandez by the Government of

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. Her recreational activities include reading, interior design and

Ikebana is the Japanese art of flower arrangement. It is also known as . The tradition dates back to Heian period, when floral offerings were made at altars. Later, flower arrangements were instead used to adorn the (alcove) of a traditional Japan ...

(the Japanese art of flower arranging). It was widely believed that Miller would eventually succeed Owen Arthur as leader of the BLP, but Mottley succeeded Arthur as BLP leader in January 2008 after the party was voted out of power. In 2022, she was awarded the

Order of the Caribbean Community The Order of the Caribbean Community is an award given to The award was initiated at the Eighth (8th) Conference of Heads of State and Governments of CARICOM in 1987 and began bestowal in 1992. Decisions as to award are taken by the Advisory Co ...

, the highest awarded that can be conferred on a Caribbean national.

Notes

References

* * * *