Fashion
The School for First Ladies Is Now in Session
It’s a highly visible role that usually comes with no job description or salary. This group aims to assist. (And yes, first gentlemen are welcome.)
On Tuesday, Sept. 24, just after noon, 15 first ladies from around the world gathered for a working lunch focused on public health in a top-floor conference room in Midtown Manhattan.
Their spouses were a few blocks away at the United Nations General Assembly, giving speeches about war, climate change and technology.
These women, along with one first daughter — Sara Rashid of Iraq — had their own agenda: To learn how to take on pressing issues and be effective in their roles. (Invitations have been extended to first gentlemen, but none have yet accepted.)
This was a biannual meeting of the Global First Ladies Alliance, a group that has helped train, educate and support 86 spouses of world leaders and over 200 of their senior staff members. The women gathered on this Tuesday were dressed in suits and patterned dresses, greeting one another with hugs or handshakes. They spent a few minutes chatting, then sat around a large table to get to work over a lunch of roast chicken and grilled kale salad. Security and staff members waited in rooms outside.
“We are energized and focused,” said Dr. Lucrecia Peinado, a former anesthesiologist and health administrator who is now the first lady of Guatemala.
The conversation focused on human papillomavirus vaccine advocacy (Merck is a sponsor of the group, as are the Ford Foundation, the PepsiCo Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation and more) but drifted to other topics, such as the expectations placed on first ladies, ways to protect vulnerable populations and the recent successes of those gathered. Oluremi Tinubu, the first lady of Nigeria, shared how planting community gardens had proved an effective way to address food scarcity caused by droughts.
