Minister Paula Ann Cox, JP, MP is the Progressive Labour Party – or PLP – Member of Parliament for Constituency 14 or Devonshire North West in Bermuda. In the wake of very recent internal Party leadership elections near the end of October 2006, Ms. Cox rose to the position of Deputy Premier of the Government of Bermuda while retaining the high profile portfolio of Minister of Finance.
Ms. Cox was first elected to the Bermuda Parliament in October 1996 as a member of the PLP which had been in opposition since its birth as a party in 1963. Two years later, on November 9, 1998 she was one of the twenty-six Progressive Labour Party candidates who swept to power in the historic 1998 elections, taking control of Bermuda’s then 40-seat House of Assembly, the second oldest Parliament in the Commonwealth. The Parliament now has a 36-member single seat Parliament.
In her eight years as a law-maker for the governing Party, Minister Cox has had varied experience in Government having held a number of Cabinet portfolios. In November 1998, under the premiership of the Honourable Jennifer Smith, JP, MP, now Dame Jennifer Smith, Minister Paula Cox was appointed as the first PLP Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety.
Minister Cox was appointed Minister of Education and Development on November 1, 2001. She has gained respect across party lines for her brilliance as an articulate lawyer and administrator.
In 2003, while Minister Cox was serving as the Attorney-General and Minister of Education and Development, Wheelock College (USA) invited Minister Paula Cox to accept an honourary Doctorate in Education. Minister Cox received this honourary degree at the May 2004 Wheelock Commencement exercise.
While she was the Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety, she was judged as the most effective politician in the Best of Bermuda Gold Awards for 2001 by The Bermudian, a prestigious and long-standing magazine in Bermuda. This accolade was repeated in 2003 in the wake of the 2003 General Election following which she was appointed Attorney-General and Minister of Education and Development, and again in 2006 in her capacity as Minister of Finance. Ms. Cox assumed the Finance portfolio in January 2004, succeeding her late father, the Hon. C. Eugene Cox, CBE, JP, MP.
Ms. Cox earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from McGill University in Canada, and a post-graduate Diploma in International Law from the University of Manchester. She trained in the United Kingdom as a Solicitor and is a member of the Bermuda Bar.
Minister Paula Cox is Corporate Counsel at ACE Limited. She previously was Vice President and Senior Legal Counsel of Global Funds Services at The Bank of Bermuda Limited. This impeccable background, allows her to give the PLP Government a strong voice in international financial matters, particularly with her expertise in the field of international law and international business.
Financial Empowerment Workshop
Lack of Financial Empowerment has been cited in domestic violence research as a significant factor in why women remain in abusive relationships.Even in non-abusive relationships, many women are forced to endure unfair treatment due to economic dependency. This workshop will liberate women from economic bondage by teaching them how to be good stewards over what God has blessed them with. We have often heard it said that it is not what we make, but how much we save that is important. At the end of this workshop women will be able to identify resources and opportunities for strengthening their economic base.
