Elaine Gumbs-Vlaun is a St. Maartener who was the first

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

on the island, and founded the Department of Social Services. She was also the first female parliamentarian, having served under the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

Career

Elaine Gumbs-Vlaun founded the

Sint Maarten Sint Maarten () is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. With a population of 41,486 as of January 2019 on an area of , it encompasses the southern 44% of the divided island of Saint Martin, while the north ...

department of Social Services, while acting as the island's original social worker. She was elected to the island council in 1983, and at the time was promoted as being the first woman to achieve that role, although

Cornelia Jones Cornelia Rosina Jones (10 September 1907 – 23 December 1979) was a Dutch woman from Saba (island), Saba who ran the Government Guesthouse on the island and was the first woman to serve on the Saba Island Council, Island Council of Saba, making h ...

predated her within the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean SeaNorth ...

. Gumbs-Vlaun also served as part of the Cabinet of the

. This made her the first Sint Maarten woman to be elected to a parliament. Gumbs-Vlaun was one of the founding members of the Mental Health Foundation in Sint Maarten in 2000, as part of a government initiative. In 2011, she became a member of the Social Economic Council (SER) and was reappointed in May 2014. Gumbs-Vlaun retired in 2015 upon reaching the age of 70. The chair of the SER, Oldine Bryson-Pantophlet, praised the work of Gumbs-Vlaun, saying that she kept her composure despite the sometimes heated discussions that would be held at the council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gumbs-Vlaun, Elaine Living people Sint Maarten women in politics 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians Dutch social workers Year of birth missing (living people)