Political players Bill and Hillary Clinton

Gone are the days when a politician’s spouse was expected to be a capable housewife and stalwart supporter of her husband’s activities, ready to smile and shake hands when required and fade into the background when not. Like the majority of women in the countries their husbands govern, today, politician’s wives have careers of their own which they manage in tandem with the pressures of childcare and their husbands’ demanding jobs. The global obsession with First Ladies has propelled them into the public eye, where they have become a new kind of role model. Yet the media continues to focus largely on style over substance. So who are they really and what should we recognise them for?

The New First Ladies

The emergence of the new generation of highly-educated, ambitious and career-minded spouses began not so long ago with Hillary Clinton and Cherie Blair. Hillary is not only married to one of the most popular presidents in US history, but is a consummate lawyer and politician herself. She studied political science and then law at Yale before embarking on a postgraduate course, for which she published a number of highly regarded scholarly articles. When she was made partner at a law firm, she earned significantly more than her infamous husband. Hillary took on a prominent role at the White House during her husband’s presidency. Moreover, just as Bill was leaving office, Hillary was elected Senator, and she is now Secretary of State. Hillary was beset by doubts about marrying Bill, as she worried that her achievements would be seen in the light of her husband’s. But she has proved that she has the resilience and political acumen to be a big player in the White House long after her husband left it.

This side of the pond, Cherie Blair might be described as Hillary’s British counterpart. Less successful in the political arena – she failed to be elected to a Labour seat in Kent in 1983 – Cherie Booth QC is nevertheless a leading UK lawyer. She obtained a first class degree in law at LSE and came top of her year in the bar exams. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases, and even represented claimants against the UK government, demonstrating that obligations to a husband need not stand in the way of a career.

Yet both Clinton and Blair have been heavily criticised by the media, be it for their “uninspiring” or, on the contrary, “eccentric” style choices, their refusal to cow-tow to the whims of the press, or simply due to a misogynistic resentment of their transgression of traditional gender norms. However, notwithstanding the faults and controversies that have been attributed to these undeniably accomplished women, they cleared the way for a whole host of modern, high-powered political wives whose achievements have little, if anything, to do with their husband’s job.

The Politics of Fashion

The media has an unfortunate tendency of focusing on what women wear and not what they do – especially when it comes to women in the public eye. And so it is that the press with unerring reliability reduces the remarkable talents and achievements of political wives to a mere beauty contest. In fact, the pressure to appear groomed and glamorous at all times is ignored at your peril, as Sarah Brown learnt. The former Prime Minister’s wife, who gave up her job as a PR executive to care for their children, has been repeatedly slated for her dowdy and unimaginative dress sense. Sarah undertakes a huge amount of charity work. She founded Piggy Bank Kids which began as a research fund looking into complications in pregnancy, after her own daughter tragically died only 10 days after she was born. She is a patron of domestic violence charity Women’s Aid and of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. Despite this, in the press Sarah is portrayed as reserved if likeable, but lacking in glamour and elegance called for by media attention.

At the other end of the glamour spectrum stands Carla Bruni, one of the most high-profile “celebrity” political wives. Carla married France’s premier Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008, but is most well-known for her modelling and music career. In the 1990s Bruni was one of the world’s highest paid fashion models, earning an estimated $7.5 million a year and she is still famous for her chic look. She then moved into music and has written and released several albums. She also stars in Woody Allen’s latest film Midnight in Paris, due to be released this year, and is behind the Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Foundation, a charity devoted to facilitating access to education amongst vulnerable social groups.

Fashion's first lady Samantha Cameron

This side of the Channel, Samantha Cameron is renowned for her effortless style and firm resolve. With a degree in Fine Art, SamCam is credited with transforming the slightly fusty Bond Street stationers Smythson into a trendy must-have brand. She is also an ambassador to the British Fashion Council and was an important presence at London Fashion Week this year.

Yes She Can!

In the US, Michelle Obama is also hailed a fashion icon. But Michelle is not just a winning smile and a great dress or two. She attended Princeton University and Harvard Law School. Indeed, she met Barack when she was asked mentor him at the law firm where she worked. Although she did not relish the task, Michelle began campaigning alongside her husband and eventually reduced her professional responsibilities by 80% to support him. She even softened her image, appearing on shows such as The View rather than on news programs. The change was also reflected in her fashion choices: she began wearing more informal clothes in place of the sharp designer pieces and tailored cuts she had previously favoured. Since becoming First Lady, Michelle has become a role model for women, an advocate of healthy eating as well as a style icon.

The First Ladies of today are intelligent career-minded women who understand the struggle of balancing home, children and husband as well as any woman. Yet they have the unenviable duty to perform this juggling act with grace and great hair – or risk disparagement from an ever-critical media. Staying out of the limelight is an option less and less available to the spouses of the world’s leaders. What they chose to do with this “celebrity status” is up to them, but as a rule, these women devote much time to worthy causes and charitable organisations. They are smart, highly-educated and have successful careers of their own. Strict laws govern their involvement in political matters, but nothing prevents politicians and their parties wielding their wives like another weapon in the political arsenal in an attempt to sway the voters. Yet the more camera-shy wife of the deputy Prime Minister, Miriam Clegg, noted: “I’m the wife of a politician. I don’t have a role, I’m just married to him.”