First Ladies

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Presidential Arm Candy. This describes the role of the Frist Lady in the simplest and most traditional form. The First Lady is the supportive wife and mother who stands by her husband. The First Lady doesn’t overstep her boundaries on political issues by taking on the role of an elected official. The First Lady stands for family values and supports charitable and appropriate causes. The First Lady is a gracious and well-mannered hostess. The First Lady is fore mostly a homemaker who manages the household. This traditional role of the First Lady is the expected one. It places rules and expectations on women. It creates standards that women are forced to follow. It supports gender roles and sexism. It forgets that women are more than the wives of their husbands. It disregards that women are their own independent people. It blatantly overlooks women’s right of choice. The traditional role of the First Lady is slowly evolving. Modern First Ladies are not stopping at challenging the rules of the game. They are creating a new game entirely. A game that does not rely on a patriarchal society’s idea of how women should behave. A game without the pressure of rules. A game that is not based on who played it before, but based on these women’s individual choices. Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama are defying and changing the traditional role of the First Lady through the influence of Eleanor Roosevelt and 4th wave feminism. It started with Eleanor Roosevelt in 1933 when her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, became president. Unlike first Ladies before her, Eleanor was not content to sit in the background while her husband ran the show. She used her husband’s presidency as a platform to spread her work as a human rights activist. This made E... ... middle of paper ... ...eft soon though, after only 2 years, to serve as an assailant to the mayor of Chicago and then as an assistant commissioner of planning and development for the City of Chicago. Michelle’s public work continued working at different schools and nonprofit organizations all with a focus helping young people serve the community and providing them leadership skills. When her husband ran and became President, Michelle scaled back her profession career calling her role now “Mom in chief” at the White House. As a First Lady, Michelle has been very committed to health and wellness causes and helping women balance a career and family. She has started an organic garden at the White House and encourages kids to be active and help their community. While Michelle’s role as a First Lady has been more focused on traditional topics, she is still a modern First Lady taking charge.

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