Currently women occupy 12 governors’ seats, 25 U.S. Senate seats, and 126 U.S. House seats. In 2020 six women entered the 2020 Democratic primary. In 2024 one woman was a Republican primary contender. In 2021 the first woman served as vice president, and three of the last presidential elections included a woman at the top of the Democratic ticket. As more women enter the presidential pipeline, chances increase that a woman will occupy the Oval Office. When that happens, 235 years of first ladies will come to an end. When that day does arrive, what can we expect?

Based on the experiences of women governors and the first second gentleman, the short answer is more of the same. The beauty of the role of presidential spouse is that each person interprets it to suit their background, experiences, and comfort level with the duties. The type of support the president provides also impacts what a presidential spouse does and does not do. Thus, we have had activist first ladies such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, Michelle Obama, and Dr. Jill Biden. We also had first ladies who stepped back from highly visible causes or political involvement such as Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Melania Trump. All fulfilled the traditional hostess role dating back to Martha Washington. Regardless of how activist or visible, first ladies have done what they consider best to serve their husbands. When Doug Emhoff was asked what his key role is as second gentleman, he responded that it was to support the vice president.

Whoever is the first first gentleman, he is likely to view his primary responsibility as to do no harm and to enhance the president’s agenda in ways that complement but do not venture too far into policy and policy-making. It is also likely that the presidential spouse will continue to work outside the White House as Mr. Emhoff does. In some ways, Dr. Biden paved the way for a working first gentleman by showing that a presidential spouse can be employed and still fulfill the traditional and expected roles of a modern spouse. That does not mean that the first gentleman will make decisions on china or flowers for the tables, but he will play a supporting role at official functions as we have seen with governors’ spouses, who exhibit a wide variety of involvement or even non-involvement in their wives’ activities. The first gentleman is likely to follow the expected task of identifying a cause, and it will be interesting to see how similar and different they are to those undertaken by first ladies. Overall, we are unlikely to experience a sea change, and when the second first gentleman arrives on the scene, he will make the position his own while also respecting the traditions that go back to Martha Washington as have the women and man who preceded him.