A day after Asif Ali Zardari became the president for the second time, reports of a new precedent being set by him started making the rounds online.
Word on the grapevine was that President Zardari was going to make his daughter Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari the new first lady. In fact, the PPP has already started referring Aseefa with that title.
Before it is made official, let’s take a look at what being the first lady is all about and whether Aseefa can technically hold the title.
What is the first lady and what does she do?
According to Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, the first lady is the wife of the president or the leader of the state but Merriam-Webster opens up the canvass a bit more by adding that the first lady can also be someone who is not the wife or female partner of a state’s chief executive but who fulfils the public duties of a first lady.
First ladies have traditionally hosted dinners, functioned as political workers, launched domestic initiatives, addressed conferences and summits, and enlisted help from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) for various causes.
In Pakistan, apart from just being by the president’s side, the first ladies have been known to launch their own initiatives on social and health-related issues. However, some first ladies, including Aseefa’s grandmother Nusrat Bhutto, military dictator Ziaul Haq’s wife Shafiq Zia and Iskandar Mirza’s spouse Nahid Mirza, stayed active in politics as well.
Are there previous examples of president’s daughters becoming first ladies?
In case of the absence of a spouse, the position of the first lady in Pakistan has been left vacant until now. This was the case in Zardari’s first stint as the president and Yahya Khan’s only tenure as well.
However, there are some examples of daughters acting as first ladies at the international level, as noted in the cases of some previous US presidents who had been widowed or whose spouses could not take on the responsibilities required by the role.
For example, US president Thomas Jefferson’s daughter, Martha Jefferson Randolph, served as the acting first lady during his regime. Similarly, another US president Andrew Jackson’s daughter-in-law and niece served as his acting first ladies.
The closest anyone came to replicating that in Pakistan was President Ayub Khan’s daughter accompanying him on foreign visits without formally holding the title of the first lady. Thus, if Aseefa does become the first lady, it would be the first case of its kind in Pakistan’s ruling history.
The reaction on social media to Aseefa receiving the title of first lady has been largely positive as seen below.
Nadir Guramani contributed to this report