Opinion: America’s First ‘Second Gentleman’

America’s First ‘Second Gentleman’

America has always had male Vice-Presidents with their wives having official roles but the dynamics has changed. Come January 20 2021, America would be having, for the first time, a female Vice-President with a first ‘second gentleman’ in the office of the husband of the Vice-President.

Doug Emhoff, the husband of the Vice-President elect, Kamala Harris is an Entertainment and Media lawyer and former partner at DLA Piper in Los Angeles. Interestingly, Doug took a leave of absence to support his wife during the campaign when she was given the nomination ticket for her party which shows the kind of man he is, his in-depth love and support of her and the security he has as an individual. Doug will have official roles to perform as well as a personal teaching professorial job at Georgetown University’s law school.

Some men would support their wife to the extent that her success does not overshadow theirs, some mindset believe that the man, being the head of the home should be superior in every manner such as wealth, influence, success and achievements. I overheard a man talking to his friend about him not having the time to stay home with his kids on holidays and be “house husband”. In the trend of his conversation, he told his friend that his wife was going for a certification course outside of the state and should take them along with her. According to him, ‘na she be woman, make she carry them go with her abeg’.

Pride and fear are the underlying destructive emotions that terminates the productivity and progress of most couples when either or both partner have a low sense of self and think the other partner must not be more successful, especially financially for fear that the individual might start misbehaving. Some partners even withdraw their support to frustrates the efforts of the other and create impediments in their process of achievement. Being afraid that your partner will outshine or overshadow you is a sign of low self-esteem which would be detrimental to the relationship at the end.

A house divided against itself, cannot stand.