00:00Being first lady is not a position and does not have any financial compensation.
00:03But historically it seems that it does bring work, and quite a lot of it.
00:07Will this be the great mirror of unpaid care work?
00:10Historically, first ladies have been tasked with caring for,
00:14attend to emergencies, support social causes, mobilize aid, talk about childhood.
00:18And today Ana Lucía Pineda is the protagonist of that place,
00:21She has been one of the most visible faces of humanitarian aid after the earthquake in Colombia.
00:26But be aware, this didn't start with her. Behind that role of noble tradition,
00:30That's what the Constitutional Court called it in the 1990s,
00:33There is also a hidden message of stereotypes about what is expected of women.
00:36when they reach the gates of power.
00:38What a mess! Even there we can't escape the supposed innate gift of women.
00:42In Colombia we started talking about the first lady in 1934,
00:46And since then, that role has been closely linked to caregiving duties.
00:49To give just one example, Cecilia de la Fuente, wife of then-President Carlos Lleras Serrestrepo,
00:54He was key in promoting the law that gave rise to the ICBF.
00:57Yes, one of the most important institutions in the country for caring for and protecting girls, boys, and adolescents,
01:04It came out in large part of the agenda of the wife of a head of state.
01:07We also saw it with María Clemencia Rodríguez, tutina.
01:10While Juan Manuel Santos had the task of implementing the peace agreements,
01:14She was in charge of the symbolic aspects,
01:16How to promote a nail polish with the name "reconciler".
01:19So, what's behind all this?
01:21Yes, gender stereotypes.
01:23When these figures enter public life,
01:26The same qualities appear that have always been sold to us as natural in women.
01:30Caring, mothering, accompanying, and looking beautiful or delicate while doing so.
01:34Except now it's being scaled up to a national level in a kind of maternal vocation towards society.
01:39And there is an even more curious fact about first ladies.
01:43The Constitutional Court made it clear in the nineties that they are not public officials,
01:48They have no salary or their own budget,
01:50And in theory, they are there solely to accompany the president and comply with protocol.
01:54But he also said that they could continue with that noble tradition of leading social causes.
01:59In other words, there's no official position, but there is caregiving work to be done.
02:02Now, if responding to an emergency, mobilizing aid, and deciding priorities are public matters,
02:07Why does that job so often end up in the hands of the president's wife?
02:10According to experts consulted, this says a lot about the place governments have given to humanitarian issues seen as
02:16less priority.
02:17And that's where the contrast appears.
02:19When we think of the president, powerful decisions come to mind.
02:24Security, economy, defense, infrastructure.
02:26That is the place from which political power is usually displayed, in a hypermasculine way.
02:31And what falls outside that mold ends up falling into the hands of those who are supposedly the experts in
02:35that.
02:36Natural caregivers.
02:37But are they really?
02:39Moving aid and making decisions on behalf of the State also requires skills and technical expertise.
02:45And none of that is automatically included just because she is the president's wife.
02:48That is why first ladies are a reflection of a patriarchy that has imposed that place on them.
02:53where being a wife often weighs more than being a professional or even being a person,
02:58This does not mean that they are figures without agency or power.
03:00Precisely because they can influence agendas and have influence,
03:03It is also important to take a close look at who is included in that care and who is left out.
03:07We are not evaluating the management of each one of them here,
03:10rather what it means to be first lady and the role that has been imposed on them.
03:14Are they treated equally because first ladies always have to take care of things?
03:17We spoke with experts about this noble tradition and what it says about the place of women around power.
03:22You can read the full article in the gender and diversity section of the viewer.
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