Fun With Play-Dough

I have to rant.

If Hillary wins the election, we will, for the first time in history, have a First Gentleman rather than a First Lady.  Considering the “job description” we currently have for the First Ladies, this would be a very interesting development. Many of you might wonder; what is it that a First Lady does, really?

She hires a full staff, including but not limited to, a Press Secretary, a Chief Floral Designer, a White House Social Secretary, and an Executive Chef. We can assume that all these people get paid. However, the First Lady herself does not get a salary, and there are no official duties attached to her position.

Be that as it may, she is expected to fulfill certain obligations, such as fundraising, entertaining all those very important guests, hosting dinners, press conferences, travel, etcetera, but it is tradition she doesn’t hold a job outside of her First Lady duties.

Wait a minute. If I understand this right, she can’t have a job, and is expected to work her ass off, without getting paid.  I’m sorry, I know no First Lady ever went hungry, and we don’t need to pity her as long as there are starving children, but this still stinks.

It reeks of sexism. Basically, the First Lady is a Hausfrau on steroids.  Like so many other women, she is expected to do all this extra stuff without salary because that’s how it’s always been; and this is supposed to be a free and democratic country?  What example does this set for the rest of us?

I’m curious whether Bill will make some changes, so that future First Ladies can keep their self-esteem intact.  I know, for instance, that he gives a lot of speeches and he doesn’t do that for free; can he keep doing that once he has been demoted to First Gentleman? Or would that count as “a job”? What about the royalties for his book? (Speaking of, I love Bill, but did anybody else find that an impossibly boring read, or is it just me?)

If the position of First Lady comes with strings attached, she should get paid.  The duties should be in writing; what is this nonsense about “no official duties”? Like she can choose to just do nothing; it would cause scandal and prevent re-election, for sure. Then they’d use words like spoiled and lazy. They’d have to hire someone else to do it, that’s right, hire; meaning they would have to pay to get crap done.

I think whoever the next First whatever is, he or she should refuse to do all this work for free, demand to either be allowed a job outside the house, or draw a salary. Set a good example, and get rid of this unpopular belief that certain tasks traditionally fall to the woman and don’t need compensation.  I sure as hell wouldn’t want to host a White House dinner for free.

On another note, there is an interesting article in the NY Times today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/nyregion/09jews.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin