First Ladies

From the fifth century to the Viking Age in present-day Norway, certain women belonging to the upper strata of society were buried with high-quality ornamental bow-brooches. Although adjusting to changing styles of decoration, the practical function and basic form of the brooches - rectangular headplate, bow and rhomboidal footplate – remained more or less the same throughout the centuries they were in use. By exploring burials which include these ornamental accessories, I argue that the brooches functioned as an important factor in reproducing and continuously negotiating identity shared by certain women within the Scandinavian Iron Age elite.

Information Literacy and Women Empowerment for National Development: The Role of First Ladies in Nigeria

Information literacy, the ability to access and utilize essential information empower women’s participation in national development and helps them to gain control over their lives. It is key to development and it promotes social inclusion by empowering people to seek and use the information to achieve their goals. It helps women to utilize available resources at their disposal to the best of their ability to achieve optimum results. Women economic empowerment and information literacy cannot be assessed without considering the economic inequality in Nigeria. Women empowerment is the means of reducing women's vulnerability and dependency in all areas of life. Women in Nigeria especially in the rural areas have been neglected, subjected and exposed to poverty with no means of supporting themselves. This paper looks at how information literacy and empowerment can raise the standard of living of women and the role and impact first ladies have played in empowering these women and going forward, how information literacy and women empowerment programmes can be better structured and sustained to further improve their living conditions and the socio-economic development of the nation.

The art history transfer of the Ukrainian people's dress in protocol events

Purpose of Research. The purpose of the research is to study the art history transfer of Ukrainian folk dresses in protocol events on the examples of the images of the first ladies of Ukraine. Methodology. The author applies the method of analysis, which allows us to analyze scientific theories on key research concepts; the method of expert assessments is used to consider factual materials on the art history transfer of elements of the Ukrainian folk costume of the first ladies; the method of comparison contributes to defining the common and different images of the first ladies in the protocol events. Scientific Novelty. The scientific novelty is the first analysis of the art history transfer of Ukrainian folk costume in the scientific context. Its phenomenon in protocol events is determined. Conclusions. Art history transfer as a special process of moving artistic values plays an important role in the preservation and promotion of artistic heritage, in particular, Ukrainian folk dresses. Ukrainian folk dresses have an important global and local art significance and an exceptional image role in their popularization belong to the participation of the first ladies of Ukraine in protocol events.

Encuadres noticiosos sobre primeras damas: las expertas, las novatas y las actuales

The protocol figure of the first lady is subject to media exposure, whether for directing an organization, when accompanying her husband at events, or because she is involved in conflicts of interest. Literature indicates that her role generates a narrative of how an exemplary woman should be in her country. In this context, this paper aims to identify, using the model of Winfield (1997), the news frames used to cover the first ladies of three countries, namely Argentina, USA, and Mexico. For this, three groups of first ladies were selected: a first group of expert politicians, including those who had a political career prior to their position and later sought the presidency of their country (Cristina Fernández, Hillary Clinton, and Margarita Zavala); a second group of novices who took the position without a previous career (Juliana Awada, Laura Bush, and Angélica Rivera); and a third group made up of those who currently hold the position (Fabiola Yáñez, Melania Trump, and Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller). The newspapers analyzed were La nación, Página/12, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reforma, and La jornada. Content analysis and the framing model revealed that the most widely used frame was that of a political official, being more pronounced for expert politicians and in newspapers opposed to her husband’s government. Moreover, this allows presidential wives to express themselves via direct quotes. It can thus be concluded that the first ladies are preferably covered from political news frames, which endows them with soft power that allows them to intervene in elections, makes their opinion relevant, and shapes their political career. Resumen La figura protocolaria de la primera dama ha sido mediáticamente expuesta a escrutinio ya sea por dirigir un organismo, acompañar a su esposo en eventos o porque se ve incolucrada en conflictos de interés. La bibliografía señala que su papel genera una narrativa de cómo debe ser una mujer ejemplar en su país de origen. En dicho contexto, el presente trabajo tiene como objetivo detectar, a partir del modelo de Winfield (1997), cuáles son los encuadres noticiosos desde los que se cubre a las primeras damas de tres países: Argentina, Estados Unidos y México. Para ello, se seleccionarion tres grupos de primeras damas: uno denominado como las políticas expertas en las que se incluyen las que tenían una carrera política anterior a su cargo y que después buscaron la presidencia de su país (Cristina Fernández, Hillary Clinton y Margarita Zavala); el segundo grupo fue el de las novatas, las cuales llegaron al puesto sin una trayectoria previa (Juliana Awada, Laura Bush y Angélica Rivera); y un tercer grupo conformado por las que actualmente ocupan dicho cargo (Fabiola Yáñez, Melania Trump y Beatriz Gutiérrez Müller). Los diarios analizados fueron La nación, Página/12, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Reforma y La jornada. Por medio del análisis de contenido y del modelo del framing se encontró que el encuadre más utilizado fue el de funcionaria política, lo cual se pronuncia en mayor medida en las políticas expertas y en los diarios opositores al gobierno de su marido. Además, dicho frame les permite a las cónyuges presidenciales expresarse desde citas directas. Se concluye que las primeras damas son abordadas desde marcos noticiosos preferentemente políticos lo cual las dota de un poder blando que le permite intervenir en elecciones, vuelve relevante su opinión y les forma trayectoria política.