First Lady

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since September 2006.
This article or section contains unencyclopedic lists that may require cleanup.
To meet Wikipedia's quality standards, please help improve this article by: removing items which are not notable, encyclopedic, or helpful from embedded lists; incorporating appropriate items into the main body of the article; and discussing this issue on the talk page.
Bella Kocharian, Laura Bush, Lyudmila Putina and Zorka Parvanova – first ladies of Armenia, the United States, Russia and Bulgaria respectively in 2003.
Bella Kocharian, Laura Bush, Lyudmila Putina and Zorka Parvanova – first ladies of Armenia, the United States, Russia and Bulgaria respectively in 2003.

First Lady is an unofficial term that is applied to the female spouse of an elected male head of state or head of government.

Development of the title to refer to the spouse of an executive is credited to the United States where it was first widely used in 1877 to refer to Lucy Webb Hayes, popular wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes.

In many countries (such as the United Kingdom), the Prime Minister's spouse has no recognized function, duties or title, and the term is not generally used. In Commonwealth Realms the closest equivalent is the Viceregal Consort, the husband or wife of the Governor General (who can in turn be male or female).

Though "first lady" is rarely an official office of the state, yet several First Ladies have exerted considerable power and influence over the course of government despite the lack of a legal mandate (example, Edith Wilson, wife of Woodrow Wilson and Henriette Conté, the first wife of Lansana Conté, the ailing President of the Republic of Guinea). While others such as Hillary Clinton or Sonia Gandhi have gone on to win political power in their own right.

Contents

While the traditions and expectations of a First Lady vary by country and have changed significantly over time, they typically include responsibilities such as:

  • hosting receptions at the executive residence;
  • advocating on behalf of public causes and charities;
  • State functions and other like duties.

The entire family of the head of state may be known familiarly as the "First Family".

The spouse of the second in command (such as a Vice President) may be known as the "Second Lady". Less frequently, the family would be known as the "Second Family". While this term has been used in the United States, it is considered outmoded and is not commonly used. Instead, the wife of the Vice President is officially called by her subordinate marital name (in the present circumstance, Mrs. Richard Cheney, on occasions when protocol is enforced, and by her professional name, Lynne Cheney in more informal settings).

In situations where the head of state or government is a woman, the term "First Gentleman" is sometimes, but infrequently, used[citation needed].

Park Geunhye, currently the head of the Grand National Party of Korea, has been referred to as the First Lady to South Korean President Park Chung Hee. Although she is President Park's daughter, the title was bestowed to her after her mother's death.

In Peru, Alberto Fujimori stripped his wife Susana Higuchi of the title of First Lady after she accused him of torture and corruption, appointing their daughter Keiko Sofia to replace her.

Mireya Moscoso Arias of Panama conferred the title of First Lady on her sister, Ruby Moscoso.

It has become commonplace for the title of "First Lady" to be bestowed on women, as a term of endearment, who have proven themselves to be of exceptional talent, even if that talent is non-political. For example, the term has been applied in the entertainment field to denote the First Lady of American Soul (Aretha Franklin), the First Lady of Hip-Hop/RnB (Faith Evans), the First Lady of the Grand Old Opry (Loretta Lynn) and the First Lady of the American Stage (Helen Hayes).

The title is also given to the wives of pastors in many African-American churches.


See also: List of first ladies

see also: Wives and husbands of heads of states and governments

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/i/r/First_Lady_1ce9.html"
Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.