PETER JARRETTE'S ARTICLE ON SUPERWOMEN OF OUR TIME FROM KATE MIDDLETON TO MICHELE OBAMA
www.caribbeanbelle.com
SAFARI PUBLISHING
THE POWERS THAT BE
Superwomen, like
charity, begin at home and like necessity too they are the mothers of
invention. The cult of the Superwoman is not new by any means but it is going
through another phase of reinvention and ownership. Their now pan-natural domain, be it domestic,
education, business, culture, entertainment and the whole realm of societal
functions in-between are as complicated as ever they were...and more so! Three
generation’s daughters are currently caught in the media amber of scrutiny, judgement and speculation both personal
and professional. In the UK inquisitive minds and hungry eyes remain trained on
their newest Royal, albeit a “commoner” who’s fortune or misfortune it may be
to marry the affable and much loved son of the late Diana Princess of Wales,
Prince William whose own iconic mother controversially championed an early
incarnation of the term superwoman.
Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, known to the
masses as “Kate” and now in her world of officialdom addressed as “Catherine Duchess
of Cambridge” has in her short time in the role as a Royal garnered miles of
press inches and a cacophony of sound bites simply over her stunning Grace
Kelly inspired wedding dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. In the run
up to the world-watched Royal wedding
there was as much speculation as to what dress would be worn as there were
whispers wondering if the bride-to-be would be able to wear it, such was her
pre-wedding weight loss. Undoubtedly due to nerves and probably a mild course
of dieting to look her best on the day this weight loss on such an already
public figure drew immediate comparisons with the plight of bulimia suffered
behind closed palace doors of the young Diana Princess of Wales. Already the
UK’s Kween Kate, a newbie out of the
superwoman Royal stable doors, was the subject of concerns, some derisive at
that. In her years prior to marrying her
on-off Prince boyfriend, Kate had endeavoured to lead the life of a devoted
daughter to her self-made multi-millionaire businessman ex-flight attendant
father Michael Francis Middleton and her ex- flight attendant mother, Carole
Elizabeth Middleton. Her early years as a school girl were plagued by extreme
bullying and as the family’s wealth increased she was moved to safer and more
exclusive educational environments ultimately entering the St. Andrew’s University
of Fife, Scotland, where she eventually met Prince William. Her love match to
William was not without its critics who suggested that she was a manipulative
social climber when she appeared on the catwalk at a St. Andrew’s charity
fashion show parading a see-thru knit dress in front of Prince Andrew whose
party of friends wolf-whistled as the Prince himself fell silent...and in love. History was worn and made
that night. Throughout these times of personal derision she remained true to
herself, confident and focused on her education as well as her relationships
with family, friends and William and William’s family having learned quite
young that you cannot please everyone, especially those who refuse to be
pleased. Comparisons to Diana were drawn in those early days too when Kate was
chased from her door to her car by press, the virulent and invasive kind peculiar
to the UK tabloids. Appeals were made through the courts to end the
“harassment” she felt was undeserved as to date she had only worked for the UK
high street clothing retail chain Jigsaw as a buyer and as a sometime
photographer. A new supergirl was being born and things were
getting rougher. Fast forward several years and Kate is moving down the aisle
to her Prince groom and on her wedding day the press asks “Who has a better
posterior, the bride or her bridesmaid sister?” Skip ahead a few short months,
Kate has yet to establish a strong working profile as fully functioning Royal
spokesperson and already UK news media items announce “Kate, high-level
politicians and terrorist informants embroiled in illegal phone tapping.”
Where Catherine
Duchess of Cambridge is seemingly putting her well-heeled foot gamely out for
the first time into the wider spectrum of the world’s steely-eyed gaze her
older, more seasoned American compatriot Michelle Obama, wife of the American
President Barack Obama has been stepping assuredly onto foreign tarmacs,
striding across political landscapes and mastering ever changing social
settings as America’s popular First Lady. As Michelle Obama’s tenure as
America’s First Lady may, or may not be coming to an end her title of superwoman
is certain to continue throughout her private and professional life. Michelle,
an outstanding role model to her two daughters Malia and Sasha, has already
covered considerable pre-political ground after attending prestigious Princeton
University and Harvard Law School before joining the Chicago law firm of Sidley
Austin where she met her future husband, Barack Obama. A bound achiever
Michelle went on to work as an assistant to Chicago’s then Mayor Richard M.
Daley and subsequent fund raising jobs in the public sector. A tall, striking
woman, her initial thrust into the limelight as a campaigner for her husband’s Presidential
bid and road to office left her less than confident she famously stated. As a
virtual brand ambassador for Barack
Obama Michelle was more than aware of the exacting expectations others would
have of her and ultimately the close regard that would be made of her personal image
and that of a wife and mother. A difficult time for her lay ahead in
establishing her capabilities in those two already demanding identities, wife
and mother as well as reckoning her political positioning in the starkness of
the public’s stare and all the hopes and or dissatisfactions that close
associates and the people of America and beyond would have of, or hold of, her.
Superwoman for Michelle cost her (and her husband) many low points in the
marriage as she struggled with maintaining home, family and faith in the bigger
picture of politics. It is documented in her husband’s second book The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming
the American Dream that as a couple “We were tired and stressed, we had
little time for conversation, much less romance.”
It is too simple to
observe these superwomen and remark “Well, it’s worked out in the end.” The
true superwoman knows that the battle is not ever over and the stresses
associated with their achievements, personal, family or otherwise remain as
relevant as their very existence and the benefits of their efforts. The unease
that Michelle claims to have felt at the outset of her hugely public life have
been handled and controlled by the strength of her conviction in her beliefs
and she has been awarded, and not by her active seeking them, plaudits from top-
flight lifestyle magazines and talk show hosts. Accolades from the world’s
shrewd fashionistas and industry organs such as Vanity Fair and Essence
Magazine have been extended to her in her honour and Michelle to date has been
second only to Hilary Clinton to grace the cover of American Vogue. Not for the
faint hearted are the risks taken by champions like Michelle Obama and in her
fashion choices she can surprise with a change of direction in the blink of an
eye. When it was expected that Michelle would weigh into the fashion high
stakes of her husband’s 2009 Presidential Inaugural Ball wearing a haute
couture creation by a world-class designer (and probably a European one at
that!) the new First Lady appeared gloriously in an elegant, fluffy,
one-shouldered white gown by the relatively unknown 26 year old designer Jason
Wu and she made fashion history on entry to the star-studded and politically power-packed
ballroom.
The position of
American First Lady is a stressful and highly watched one and to become the
first elected female Prime Minister in an exceedingly macho, male dominated
forum such as the Caribbean region’s political arena is no easily taken task.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister, The Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar is
another generation of superwoman but like Catherine Duchess of Cambridge and
The First Lady Micelle Obama Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has led a
focused life privately, professionally and now publically. Having been the
first woman to serve as Attorney General Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the first
female too to be Commonwealth Chairperson-in-Office Trinidad and Tobago’s PM has
that tantalising twist of having made history three times before yet having
completed her current political office. Her superwoman status is confirmed.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar honed her already strong personal skills through travel,
local and foreign education and works. With working years spent in the UK and likewise
in Jamaica Kamla Persad-Bissessar has set about applying a nurturing touch to
sensitive concerns in the often volatile atmosphere of politics. Unlike
America’s First Lady, Kamla Persad-Bissessar has the daunting tasks of
addressing the urgent issues directly, wrestling ensuing criticisms, conflicts
and maintaining as precise a path to completion as her and her parties’ can
pilot. Of the three superwomen caught in a sort of media amber Kamla
Persad-Bissessar’s position is the most difficult to step aside from.
Essentially like our other two superwomen Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister
remains a private life with her own personal and family concerns of husband and
son and all that goes with it. In a tightly monitored political and business
society such as Trinidad and Tobago and within an extremely commercially viable
region as the Caribbean many eyes beyond the local political spectrum remain on
this superwoman and larger powers to the north and beyond have a vested
interest in what manoeuvring occurs. In politics, where men are concerned, the
issue of “alienating” is seldom voiced but when a powerful woman takes poll
position it is the females that watch with another more decided eye said
woman’s every movement. Trinidad and
Tobago’s elegant Prime Minister masters these issues of presentation through
her politics primarily and her communication too obviously but it is not lost
on her that a clean line in suits and dress, with confident (not overpowering),
warming colours and easily coiffured hairstyling send the message of self
respect not vanity. The days of harsh impersonal appearances do not work as
feminism has owned back the right to represent itself through style and
fashion, colour and carriage. If clothes maketh the man then surely they maketh
the woman too. In all our superwomen of the day they must express themselves to
the public in a way that instils trust, hope, approachability and sense. We
have a place for Ms. Minaj and the Lady Gaa Gaa and in their own description
they would say they are theatre. Superwomen may be part theatre too but they
must function for, not alienate, the public. A tightwire walk for the brave,
the bold, the super and the truly beautiful in spirit.
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