The political spouse: It’s not a job just for women anymore
Source: Miami Herald
By Markos Kounalakis,
Women on the world stage are increasingly playing lead roles. Whether New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, the newest all-female Finnish government’s cabinet led by 35-year old Prime Minister Sanna Marin or the record number of American women who ran and won in the 2018 midterm elections, women are moving on up. Get used to it.
Increasingly, women have elbowed and edged their way into previously male-dominated representative chambers around the world in what were once more smoke-filled men’s clubs than curtained lactation stations. As a result, the public , too, should wake up and prepare for a new category of men who will accompany and support these freshly elected women.
Happily, I am one of them. Last year, I became California’s “Second Partner” after my wife, Eleni Kounalakis, was elected overwhelmingly the state’s first female lieutenant governor.
A friend at a Washington, D.C., think tank now jokingly introduces me as Sacramento’s Denis Thatcher, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s husband and the butt of many jokes.
What do my male cohorts and I share with Sir Thatcher? We all married strong, confident women who neither threaten us nor our masculinity. We don’t compete with our spouses either for public affection or attention and we are in mutually respectful and loving relationships. We are supportive. We work as a team bringing up our kids and making financial decisions.
Click here to read the full article published by Miami Herald on 12 December 2020.
By Markos Kounalakis,
Women on the world stage are increasingly playing lead roles. Whether New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, the newest all-female Finnish government’s cabinet led by 35-year old Prime Minister Sanna Marin or the record number of American women who ran and won in the 2018 midterm elections, women are moving on up. Get used to it.
Increasingly, women have elbowed and edged their way into previously male-dominated representative chambers around the world in what were once more smoke-filled men’s clubs than curtained lactation stations. As a result, the public , too, should wake up and prepare for a new category of men who will accompany and support these freshly elected women.
Happily, I am one of them. Last year, I became California’s “Second Partner” after my wife, Eleni Kounalakis, was elected overwhelmingly the state’s first female lieutenant governor.
A friend at a Washington, D.C., think tank now jokingly introduces me as Sacramento’s Denis Thatcher, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s husband and the butt of many jokes.
What do my male cohorts and I share with Sir Thatcher? We all married strong, confident women who neither threaten us nor our masculinity. We don’t compete with our spouses either for public affection or attention and we are in mutually respectful and loving relationships. We are supportive. We work as a team bringing up our kids and making financial decisions.
Click here to read the full article published by Miami Herald on 12 December 2020.