Women in Politics: Political Wives versus Woman Politicians

As a primer for next term's talk, although my focus will be slightly different, check out the last few days commentary on the Guardian comment section contrasting political wives with women politicians in the wake of Samantha Cameron's pregnancy announcement .... the former seen as harmful to the latter.  So do we want to reject Michelle Obama as as a set back for 'serious women politicians' then? Does the political wife embody some image of the woman that the woman politician must actively eschew to succeed in the party room and at the ballot box.  Does one site demand femininity (the wife.... damn Jackie Kennedy has so much to answer for, where is Eleanor Roosevelt when you need her), while the other rejects any expression of femininity as synonymous with triviality.  I will hope that our own Jo Howe was right in the last seminar when she said that we can hopefully still wear what we want as politicians if we are just damn good. 

Thx Amy for drawing my attention to these articles!