First lady

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
US First Lady since 2017: Melania Trump
v. l. From right: First Ladies Nancy Reagan , Lady Bird Johnson , Hillary Clinton , Rosalynn Carter , Betty Ford and Barbara Bush at the National Garden Gala, A Tribute to America's First Ladies , 1994

First Lady ( German  First Lady [in the state] ) is the title of the wife of a head of state or - less often - the head of government in numerous English-speaking countries. It is sometimes used as an official name. In some countries the term has been translated into the national language, for example in Spanish-speaking countries, where the Primera Dama is used. In francophone countries one speaks of the première dame . In German, the term “ President's wife ” or “ Chancellor's wife” is also common.

Use of terms

Sometimes the term first lady also describes the wife of a regional highest politician. In countries where the head of government plays a more important role than the head of state , the term is also often used for the wife of the former. First ladies take on diplomatic tasks alongside their husbands by cultivating relationships with the families and spouses of other heads of state. During state visits , a “ladies' program” is often organized for the first ladies. Some first ladies also actively intervened in the politics of their countries. Well-known examples are Eleanor Roosevelt and Eva Perón . Hillary Clinton ran for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the 2008 presidential election , but failed in the primaries short of Barack Obama . She was nominated as a presidential candidate for the Democratic Party for the 2016 presidential election, but this time she failed because of Donald Trump . Cristina Fernández de Kirchner also ran for the highest state office. She was elected on October 28, 2007 and replaced her husband Néstor Kirchner in the presidency on December 10, 2007. In rare cases, the wife of a head of state also holds an official government position. Such was Margot Honecker 1963-1989 Minister of Education, while her husband Erich Honecker 1976 to 1989 as State Chairman of the highest office in the GDR held.

In monarchies the term is only used for the wife of the head of government. A monarch's wife usually takes the feminine form of his title, e.g. B. Queen or Princess.

United States

Although in the United States the "first lady" is generally the wife of the US President, the term formally refers to the hostess in the White House. For US presidents who were single, widowed, or divorced, other female family members took on the role of "first lady" - sisters, daughters, nieces, and daughters-in-law. For rehearsals at representation events, the abbreviation FLOTUS ( First Lady of the United States ) is used for the position of First Lady . The second lady is the wife of the Vice President of the United States.

Germany

Since March 19, 2017 Elke Büdenbender ( middle ) has been Germany's "First Lady"

The "First Lady" is the colloquial term used in Germany to refer to the partner of the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany . Although the office and the designation "First Lady" are not mentioned in the Basic Law and therefore do not exist de jure , both have become established. For example, Norbert Lammert, President of the Bundestag at the time , called the life partners of Joachim Gauck and Steinmeier, Daniela Schadt and Elke Büdenbender , in his speech on the swearing-in of Frank-Walter Steinmeier on March 22, 2017 , as “First Ladies”. In Germany, "First Lady" does not necessarily refer to the Federal President's spouse, but can also describe the current partner . The partner of Federal President Gauck, Daniela Schadt, was also referred to as the “First Lady” and not his wife Gerhild Gauck, from whom he lives separately but was never divorced. In the case of Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, his daughter Libet Werhahn was also considered the first lady, as his wife had already died at the time of his chancellorship.

Other states

Countries with polygamy: Gambia as an example

Even if the former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh is married to two women, according to the protocol only one, Zineb Jammeh , carried the title "First Lady". During the change of government on January 24, 2017, President Adama Barrow , who is also married to two women, announced that his first wife, Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, was the country's first lady.

Male counterpart

So far, no fixed term has been established for the spouse of a non-noble head of state. In the case of queens, the counterpart is the prince consort .

In connection with the election of Angela Merkel as Germany 's first female chancellor , her husband Joachim Sauer was referred to by various media as a first husband . However, in several ways this is not an exact equivalent of the First Lady . It should be noted that the designation "first" is based on the perception of the Chancellor as the highest political official. However, this is not correct, since in the Federal Republic of Germany the Federal President is the head of state and therefore also comes first in the protocol-based ranking . The Chancellor is de facto the most powerful politician, but usually only occupies the third position, behind the President of the Bundestag. On the other hand, husband is simply the name for a husband, while lady does not necessarily mean a wife, but generally a lady - in the United States, a close relative of the president took over the role of first lady several times. The male equivalent of Lady would be a gentleman. In addition, the term First Husband is a sham Anglicism because in English one would not understand it as the first husband in the state, but the first husband of a woman who has been married several times.

In the United States itself, the names First Gentleman and First Spouse can be found . The latter was brought into play with Hillary Clinton's initially promising application as a candidate for the 2016 presidential election . If they had won the election, that would have been her husband, Bill Clinton .

In the Philippines , whose political system is closely based on the American model and where the office of president has already been held by women repeatedly, the first gentleman is used as the male counterpart to the first lady .

literature

  • Lewis G. Gould (Ed.): American First Ladies. Their lives and their legacy. Garland, New York & London 1996, ISBN 0-8153-1479-5 .
  • Janet Marx: The First Ladies of the Fifth French Republic - from Yvonne de Gaulle to Bernadette Chirac . Müller, Saarbrücken 2007, ISBN 978-3-8364-4904-5 .
  • Longin Pastusiak: America's First Ladies. From Edith Roosevelt to Hillary Clinton. Militzke, Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-86189-094-1 .
  • Katherine AS Sibley (Ed.): A Companion to First Ladies. Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester 2016, ISBN 978-1-118-73222-9
  • Margaret Truman: First Ladies. An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives . Random House, New York 1995, ISBN 0-449-22323-X .
  • Helene Walterskirchen : On the side of power. Germany's first ladies . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-8000-3845-5 .
  • Robert P. Watson, Anthony J. Eksterowicz (Eds.): The Presidential Companion: Readings on the First Ladies. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia 2006, ISBN 978-1-57003-659-0 .
  • Christine Weiss: The American First Lady and the staging of the presidential marriage in the 1964–1996 election campaigns . Dissertation, University of Heidelberg 2007 ( full text )

Web links

Commons : First Ladies  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: First Lady  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ first lady. Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved June 18, 2019.
  2. ↑ Portræt: Danmarks nye førstedame ( Denmark's new first lady , meaning the wife of Prime Minister Rasmussen) , Berlingske
  3. ↑ http://www.badische-zeitung.de/deutschland-1/ein-amt-das-es-nicht-gibt-ehefrau-des-bundespraesident--133391375.html
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2FWxdI_D74
  5. ↑ Florian Gathmann: Departing First Lady Daniela Schadt: "I wept". In: Spiegel Online . February 16, 2017, accessed June 9, 2018 .
  6. ↑ http://www.rp-online.de/politik/deutschland/so-ist-joachim-gauck-privat-aid-1.2752493
  7. ^ President Jammeh Marries Second Wife , The Daily Observer, October 4, 2010
  8. ↑ F Mbaye: Barrow confirms first wife will be country's first lady . In: What's On Gambia - Gambian Celebrity gossip, nightlife, entertainment news, culture & lifestyle . ( whatson-gambia.com ).
  9. ↑ Joachim Sauer - our First Husband , WDR2
  10. ↑ Tips from the first First Husband , Welt Am Sonntag
  11. ↑ Germany's “First Husband” ( memento of the original from April 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , OÖNews @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pocket.nachrichten.at
  12. ↑ Whoever smiles last, with reference to Joachim Sauer as First Husband ( Memento from May 22, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), Der Tagesspiegel
  13. ↑ Women's program without Merkel's husband, Joachim Sauer as “First Husband” , focus.msn.de
  14. ↑ http://www.newyorker.com/printables/press/060918pr_press_releases  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.newyorker.com  
  15. ↑ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03/25/10/pgma-rushes-fg-hospital