During the recent seemingly never-ending presidential campaign in the US, we watched both Donald trump's wife, Melania and his daughter, Ivanka, hit the campaign trail to rally support for their candidate. While Melania caught a huge amount of backlash for repeating a speech previously given by current First Lady, Michelle Obama, there weren't too many reportable gaffes from Ivanka, particularly if you ignore the fact the she did very little to support the women her father was prone to making foul comments about.
However, on her own merits, and not without business credentials, should we expect to see more being done by the First Daughter than the First Lady in the New Year?
And what kind of competition, if any, can be expected when the Trump ladies vie for national attention to get their individual messages across?
Cyber Bullying
We know that being the FL is a extremely difficult job. No longer are the women of White House there to smile and go along with what their husbands say; it's now very much a role in its own right and has seen previous First Ladies tackle a huge range of cultural and social issues. Mrs Trump has stated, during the campaign, that she wants to target cyber bullying. That should be interesting as her husband is a very high profile cyber bully and his offensive tweets are now legendary. You could be forgiven for thinking that it might take up all of Melania's time JUST to get him to wind his neck in every now and then.
Regardless of the President Elect's own lack of comprehension on the topic, it's a very real issue for many people and it would be great to see it being tackled with harsher punishments and given a higher profile by the First Lady.
Women's Rights
Businesswomen and mother, Ivanka, aside from a short statement about her disapproval of her Father's choice of 'locker room' words concerning sexual assault and assurance us that her Father is a feminist, has largely kept quiet and managed to avoid getting involved in many of President Elect Trump's sexism rows.
On one hand, she would be perfectly placed to campaign for women's rights, given her powerful position and clear work ethic, but can someone who refuses to fully stand up against sexism in her own family really be taken seriously as an advocate for everyone else's?
At present, we have no real idea of what kind of job Ivanka will assume come Inauguration Day in January but, given her recent inclusion in a formal meeting with the Japanese, it's safe to say there will undoubtedly be a role for her in the new administration.
However, whether she takes a back seat, advisory role for her Father and lets her Step-Mother assume her own rightful position remains to be seen. Does America have room for two First Ladies?
What we can say for sure is that we have a few very interesting few years ahead...and that's without even considering what President Trump will get up to. Let's hope for a Happy New Year and a solid administration....even if our gut instincts tell us this is unlikely to be the case.
