The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

IN celebration of International Women’s Day 2022 and its campaign theme, “Break the Bias,” The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Grand Bahama Chapter is spotlighting Constance Elrone McDonald, QC.

According to the organisation, Ms McDonald has broken the bias in the workplace and the Grand Bahama community.

Hadassah Swain, FIDA Regional Vice President North America and the Caribbean, said McDonald received the highest honour in the legal profession when she was bestowed the title of Queen’s Counsel on December 17, 2021.

“She is the first and only female attorney in the Northern Region in the history of The Bahamas to receive such an honour,” she said.

Ms Swain said that FIDA Grand Bahama Chapter proudly celebrates and salutes Ms McDonald who continues to make a positive impact on the lives of women and children.

“She is a fierce advocate who holds fast to her convictions; a woman who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear; a woman who is not frightened to take on challenges; a leader who continues to fight to “Break the Bias”, she said.

Ms McDonald has been practising law for some 40 years in the Bahamas. She opened her law firm McDonald &Co in Freeport, in April 1994.

Born in Bennetts Harbour, Cat Island, Ms McDonald is the eldest daughter of ten children to parents Revd Norris Holman McDonald and Margaret Loretta McDonald neé Thurston. She is the mother of one adult son, Michon McDonald.

Ms McDonald completed her high school education in Nassau in 1965 at Government High School. In 1972, she went to the University of the West Indies in Bridgetown, Barbados, where she obtained her LLB degree in August of 1976. She also attended the Norman Manley Law School in Kingston, Jamaica, where she received a Legal Education Certificate in September 1978.

According to Ms Swain, Ms McDonald’s “illustrious legal career” began when she was called to The Bahamas Bar on August 25, 1978.

So, for the past 43 and a half years she has been engaged in the practice of law,” she said.

Ms McDonald worked at the Office of the Attorney General as Assistant Legal Counsel for four years before moving on to become the first Legal Counsel at The Bahamas Development Bank, where she remained for three years.

In 1985, she relocated to Grand Bahama Island and took up employment as Legal Counsel with the Grand Bahama Port Authority Limited for five years. In 1990, she entered private practice as the attorney in charge of the Freeport Office of Maynard & Co. Then, she became a Partner in Charge of the Freeport Office of Gibson, Serville & Co. until 1994.

In April 1994, Ms McDonald started her own practice at McDonald & Co. which she has operated for the past 28 years.

Said Ms Swain: “When one examines Ms McDonald’s legal career, one would agree that the honour she received on the 17th of December 2021 was most befitting. She was officially recognised for her long years of esteemed counsel and service in the administration of justice in our country when the highest honour in the legal profession of that of Queen’s Counsel was bestowed upon her.”

Ms Swain said Ms. McDonald always found time for civic duties, despite her demanding legal career.

In 1991, she said, Ms McDonald served as an Acting Stipendiary & Circuit Magistrate, and was also appointed Acting Vice President of the Bahamas Industrial Tribunal Northern Region from 1997 to 1999.

For the past 40 years, she has been a part-time lecturer at the College of The Bahamas now University of The Bahamas, lecturing in Business Law, Banking Law, Principles of Liability, Ethics, Family Law and Social Welfare.

In 2002, she was appointed by the Minister of Labour as a member of the Labour and Employment Law Review Commission and charged with reviewing the Labour Laws of The Bahamas. She published a minority report regarding the Family Islands. Ms McDonald’s community activities and membership in professional and civic organisations are too many to list.

IWD is globally celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socio-economic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.

Ms Swain said the day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality.

She indicated that aligned with the overall campaign theme for IWD 2022 “Break the Bias”, the theme for the United Nations (UN) Observance of International Women’s Day 2022 is “Gender Equality Today for a Sustainable Tomorrow”.

The International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) in consultative status with the UN. In March of 2011, the UN launched UN WOMEN, an organisation within the UN which focuses on the progress of the world’s women, in the pursuit of justice. FIDA was organised in Mexico City in 1944, to promote the principles and aims of the UN in their legal and social aspects. With members in over 73 countries around the globe, FIDA works to establish friendly international relations on a basis of mutual respect and equality and to promote the welfare of women and children.

On this International Women’s Day 2022, FIDA Grand Bahama Chapter joins with the UN and the rest of the world in celebrating the tremendous efforts by women and girls around the world in shaping a more equal future for a sustainable tomorrow.