When Carla Bruni, wife of French president Nicholas Sarkosi, came to London last year, you’d be forgiven for thinking the UK newspapers had never seen a woman before.
You could almost picture the tabloid editors dribbling over their computer screens every time a fresh batch of pictures came in, tongues lolling and eyes glazed. She did look good, but the overreaction was something to behold. The insanity was repeated when Michelle Obama came over – she took the liberty of showing her arms, and everyone’s heads exploded.
The interest in political wives has grown in the last couple of years, so much so that our other national female obsession – the WAG – has dwindled a little. Insurance company Sheila’s Wheels felt it was such a pressing matter they decided to poll 1,031 British women on the topic. They found more women would prefer to be like Michelle Obama than Victoria Beckham, more would take fashion inspiration from political wives, and more would consider dating a politician since their wives became popular.
This is just brilliant. Now girls can aspire to date MPs, as well as footballers! I wish I’d known about this when I was in school. I’d never have bothered with exams and stuff. I’d have practised fake tanning, or choosing outfits appropriate to the occasion.
I like the fact that someone like Michelle Obama is admired, but where are the surveys of girls who took one look at Hilary Clinton and decided they wanted to be a politician? I am just about old enough to remember the end of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister, so why did I (along with just about every girl my age) take one look at politics and know implicitly it wasn’t the world for me? Why are the wives – mostly silent, dressed demurely and loyally supporting their husbands – the most high-profile women in politics?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a woman deciding she wants to marry someone and support their career, but it would be nice if there was some sort of choice represented. Can’t we have a few successful senior female politicians splashed all over the papers, and not just because some columnist is bitching about their clothes?
The continued obsession with wives suggests this is the natural choice for any woman who wants money or power. Don’t go and earn it yourself – just marry a man who has it.
It’s easy to brush off this kind of argument. You can say girls are capable of making their own choices, and there are plenty of ambitious young women who don’t care that Bruni is worshipped as a goddess while female politicians have their every move watched and sneered at far more than their male counterparts. It’s true there are lots of women and girls who are capable of transcending some of this. But it sends a subtle, all-pervading message that’s impossible to avoid, no matter how strong you are.
That message is this: if you’re beautiful, well-dressed, quiet and loyal, you will live a happy life, beloved by newspapers and the public. If you have the audacity to be ambitious enough to want to have your own high-profile political career, watch out. That’s not what nice, safe women do and it’s not a choice society is all that comfortable with you making.