3. Both Women Were Seen As Their Husband’s Wives, Not Politicians
Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France before the French Revolution destroyed the monarchy in 1789, was hardly regarded as a politician. During that time, women tended to be seen as nothing more than a support for their husbands, especially when their husbands were powerful ruling monarchs, like King Louis XVI. However, many things can be credited directly to Marie Antoinette and not to her husband.
Though she was working in politics even before her marriage to the future president, many don’t see her political career as having begun until she served as the First Lady of Arkansas. She went on to help her husband secure the presidency in the 1992 election and attained many distinctions in her role as FLOTUS over the ensuing eight years. Following the end of his tenure, when she won a seat in the United States Senate, many felt that she was merely riding on her husband’s coattail and had no legitimacy to the prestigious position. During her presidential campaign in 2016, she was routinely undermined by women who believed that feminism was an aberration. A significant platform of Donald Trump’s campaign was the promise to lock up Hillary Clinton in jail.