First lady or first gentleman

The first ladies from 36 countries gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, 2008.

First lady, first gentleman or republican consort is a title or protocol treatment that the spouse of the head of state receives in some republics / President of the Republic or, failing that, a son, daughter or other relative who fulfills that role in official ceremonies.

There is no fixed definition of the role of the first lady or the first gentleman, being this official institution only in a small number of countries. However, it generally benefits from a team within the presidential administration and carries out relatively supervised actions, particularly related to humanitarian aid, health or education. They are also present at official events and receptions and in most State visits, even being associated with international meetings where special programs are planned for them. Despite the fact that their status is not officially an official public function, some have participated in decision-making, campaigning in favor of their spouses, improving their image, even leading an independent political life in parallel or after leaving power. of your spouse.

History

First Ladies Bella Kocharian of Armenia, Laura Bush of the United States, Lyudmila Pútina of Russia and Zorka Parvanova of Bulgaria during the Book Festival. Moscow, 1 October 2003.

It has been pointed out that the first use of the term first lady referred to women of high rank or outstanding in their field. The first documented use of this title to describe the spouse of the President of the United States dates from 1838 in reference to Martha Washington, although it was never used as such during her husband George Washington's tenure. country, the president found himself without a suitable title for his consort. The equivalent until then in European monarchies would be the queen consort, but in the case of the United States none of the usual titles corresponded to the position of the spouse of the president. Thus was created the title of first lady, which came to be used regularly for the first time by Harriet Lane, although she was actually a niece of James Buchanan as he remained single throughout his life.

During the 20th century, with the growing number of parliamentary democracies, the wives of presidents did not initially have a defined title, although the protocol guaranteed them a space at official receptions, following the prevailing model in monarchies with queen consorts. Gradually, inspired by the American model, the tabloid press adopted the term "First Lady" without any legal basis. Therefore, most of the time, the wife of a head of state was only invited as a spouse, although some countries officially use "first lady". At the beginning of the century XXI, as more women came to power, the question of how to designate the husband of a female head of state arose, giving rise to the title "first gentleman".

Function

Generally, the First Lady or First Gentleman is not an elected or appointed position, has no assigned duties or responsibilities or authority over others, and does not receive salary or other compensation; rather, she must fulfill certain functions of a formal nature as a companion to the Head of State on trips or official receptions and actively participate in government institutions, generally of a charitable or social nature. Depending on the country, she can also dedicate herself to a social cause, and if the person is charismatic, she can help convey a positive image of the head of state to the population.

Variants

Néstor Kirchner (1950-2010) was the first man to occupy the position of first knight in Argentina, during the period 2007-2010.

The masculine equivalent of the title in countries where the spouse of the head of state is a man is first knight. While there has never been a male spouse of a president in the United States, "first gentleman" is used for the male spouse of a female mayor or governor.

First spouse and first couple, both unusual variations, can be used in any case where the spouse of a political leader is of either gender. Both terms seek to promote gender equality and neutrality.

For its part, second lady or second gentleman is a title that is sometimes used in reference to the spouse of a vice president or lieutenant governor and, if these two do not exist last positions, of a prime minister, premier or chief minister in a republic or of the deputy prime minister, vice premier or chief deputy minister in a monarchy, whose treatment is relates to the title of first lady or first gentleman, the spouse of a president or governor of a republic or of a prime minister, premier or chief minister of a monarchy.

Collectively, the president and his spouse are known as the first couple and, if they have children, it is generally called the first family (a term that was cemented during the Kennedy Administration with the popular comedy album The First Family by Vaughn Meader), as the Republican counterpart to the royal family; Similarly, the vice president or prime minister and his spouse are the second couple and with his descendants they form the second family .

In some countries, such as Germany, according to the order of precedence there may be the figure of third lady or third gentleman: in the German case, the first lady or the first gentleman is the spouse of the federal president, the second lady or the second gentleman is the spouse of the president of the Federal Parliament and the third lady or the third gentleman is the spouse of the federal chancellor.

Absence cases

In the event that the president is not married (or even if he is, he is emotionally distanced from his spouse), the position of first lady is usually occupied by another woman, a close relative of the head of government, such as his mother, daughter or sister. This is the case of some of the most recent Latin American presidents such as Joaquín Balaguer, Alberto Fujimori, Óscar Arias, Jamil Mahuad, Fernando Lugo, Carlos Menem and Alejandro Giammattei and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin after divorcing his wife. However, in some countries the position remains vacant, for example in Venezuela with Hugo Chávez in 2004, in Argentina with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner when her husband Néstor Kirchner died in 2010, or in the case of Chile when Michelle Bachelet was president the position remained vacant. of first gentleman. The former president of South Vietnam, Ngô Đình Diệm, was never married, so the position fell to his sister-in-law Tran Le Xuan.

First Ladies Presidents

There have been five cases of first ladies who after being first ladies became president, two of them in the Argentine Republic, one in Guyana, another in South Korea and one in Panama. They are:

Park Geun-hye was the first lady in the period 1974-1979 and President of the Republic of Korea between 2013 and 2017.

• María Estela Martínez de Perón, also known as Isabel Perón (not to confuse with Eva Perón, the second wife of Juan Domingo Perón), who was vice president and first lady of Argentina during the last presidency of her husband, General Juan Domingo Perón, and succeeded him in his death in July 1974.
• Janet Jagan, who was the first lady of Guyana during the government of her husband Cheddi Jagan, and, after his death, was elected president in the 1997 elections.
• Park Geun-hye, daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-hee, who was the first lady of South Korea in 1974 after the murder of her mother Yuk Young-soo, and on 25 February 2013 became the first woman president of South Korea
• Mireya Moscoso who was the first lady of Panama during the government of her husband Arnulfo Arias Madrid (1 October 1968-11 October 1968) before her husband's overthrow of her third president later elected as the first woman president of the Republic of Panama in the 1999 elections.
• Park Geun-hye (South Korea), daughter of former President Park Chung-hee.
• Xiomara Castro de Zelaya (Honduras) wife of the defenseless president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales was a presidential candidate in 2013 for the Freedom and Refoundation Party. He participated in the 2021 elections as a coalition candidate and was elected president.

People who rejected the title

• In Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner rejected the title of "first lady" during the government of her husband Néstor Kirchner, preferring instead the title "First citizen». In 2007 she was elected president of the Nation, a post for which she was re-elected in 2011 and held until the end of her mandate in 2015.
• In Ecuador, former President Rafael Correa declared to the press as a null position arguing that it was an anachronism and sexism in those times. His successors, former President Lenin Moreno, and the Ecuadorian president currently in office Guillermo Lasso, had no objection to appointing his spouse with such dignity.
• In Venezuela on April 14, 2013, when Nicolás Maduro won the 2013 presidential elections, he called his wife Cilia Flores with the term "first combatant" and from that date the institutions and party of government call it that way.
• In Mexico, on May 27, 2018, in full electoral campaign, Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller, wife of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (to that candidate date and since December 1 of that Mexican president year), said at a political rally in Veracruz that he would not use such a title when his husband was president, and explained: "For the real transformation of Mexico's public life, we must begin to think and act differently. Let's put an end to the idea of the first lady. In Mexico we don't want women first and second," he said to the crowd. "With all due respect to women who have been in that role before, to say first lady is a classist."

Former first ladies with presidential aspirations

• 

  Hillary Clinton (in 1995), was the first lady of the United States (1993-2001), New York Senator (state), Secretary of State and candidate for president of the United States in 2016.
  Hillary Rodham Clinton (United States), wife of former President Bill Clinton.
• Margarita Penón Góngora (Costa Rica), ex-president Oscar Arias Sánchez
• Keiko Fujimori Higuchi (Peru), daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori.
• Sandra Torres (Guatemala), former wife of President Alvaro Colom. He tried to participate in 2011 but was unable to participate because his candidacy was considered illegal because he was the wife of the president even though they divorced at that time. She participated as a presidential candidate in the 2015 and 2019 elections and went to the scene and was defeated by Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammattei respectively.
• Nora Gúnera de Melgar (Honduras) wife of former President General Juan Alberto Melgar Castro; in 1996 she became the first Honduran woman to be a presidential candidate for the National Party of Honduras.
• Patricia Escobar de Arzú (Guatemala), wife of President Alvaro Arzú, participated in 2011 being in the eighth place of ten candidates with 2.19% of the total votes.
• Margarita Cedeño Lizardo (Dominican Republic), wife of former President Leonel Fernández. He abandoned his aspirations to be formula partner of Danilo Medina
• Margarita Zavala (Mexico), wife of former President Felipe Calderón, resigned the federal elections in Mexico in 2018 during the election campaign.

Former first ladies with vice presidential aspirations

• Eva Perón (Argentina), second wife of President Juan Domingo Perón. She declined to be a vice president.
• Raquel Blandón (Guatemala), ex-wife of President Vinicio Cerezo. She participated as a vice-presidential candidate in the 2011 elections, and she was second in the balotage.
• Margarita Cedeño de Fernández (Dominican Republic), Ex-Esposa del ex-president Leonel Fernández.
• Marta Linares (Panama) Spouse of former President Ricardo Martinelli
• Mehriban Aliyeva, wife of the current president of Azerbaijan İlham ⋅liyev and vice president since 2016.

First Knight

First gentleman is the male equivalent of first lady; refers to the (male) spouse of an agent, as is the case, for example:

• José María Rico Cueto, husband of former Costa Rican president Laura Chinchilla;
• Pentti Arajärvi, spouse of the former Finnish president, Tarja Halonen;
• Todd Palin, husband of the former governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin;
• José Miguel Arroyo husband of the former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
• Néstor Kirchner, the late former president of Argentina, who was the first gentleman until the day of her death, being the husband of the president of that country, Cristina Fernández.
• Sebastian Dávalos, son of Michelle Bachellet, then president of Chile, assumed the post of sociocultural director of the presidential palace (cargo given to the first ladies) during the period 2014-2015, because in that country there is no figure of "first knight", until its link with the Caval case became public.
• Manuel Zelaya, husband of the President of Honduras, Xiomara Castro for the Freedom and Refoundation Party.

Controversy

In countries like the United States, presidential candidates are judged by their family life, not having the right to any kind of privacy. In a completely different way, in Europe the episodes of intimate life, even the extramarital affairs of famous politicians such as Francisco Sá Carneiro and François Mitterrand, are deliberately ignored by the press (supposedly due to the obligation of the journalists' own professional ethics), coming to light years later. The yellow press breaks this rule, especially in the UK, although political loyalty also comes into play in case of conflict.

Non-political uses

In the United States, it is common for the title first lady to be bestowed on women, as an affectionate address, who have demonstrated exceptional talent or unique notoriety in non-political areas. It is usually, though not always, used when the person in question is the wife or "female equivalent" of a man (or group of men) known in a similar field. For example, the term has been applied in the field of entertainment to denote the "First Lady of Television" (Lucille Ball), the "First Lady of Song" (Ella Fitzgerald), the "First Lady of Music... i>country” (Tammy Wynette, although Loretta Lynn was also known by that title), the “first lady of Star Trek” (Majel Barrett), the “first lady of American >soul” (Aretha Franklin), the “first lady of the Grand Ole Opry” (Loretta Lynn), “the first lady of American cinema” (Lillian Gish) and the “ First Lady of the American Theater" (Helen Hayes).

The term has been used to refer to the wives of the presidents of Anglo-Saxon colleges and universities in some cases.

The term first lady is also used to refer to a woman who occupies the most important social position within a particular locality, in this sense it is very popular in Africa, where it can be applied to the Dominant noblewoman in some chiefdom hierarchies, such as those of the Yoruba.

In recent years, it has been used to refer to the wife of the pastor of a church (although the Greek term priest exists, πρεσβυτέρα, for the wife of the religious leader), especially in predominantly black congregations.