Talk:List of first ladies

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Do all these women have the title "First Lady"? If not, they shouldn't really be on the list. It's very much an Americanism, which has been adopted in some other countries, but by no means all. -- Necrothesp 19:56, 1 September 2005 (UTC)

• Actually from what I understand, the first lady doesn't have to be the spouse in the United States. Several times when either the president was a widower or his wife was too medically fragile to be hostess at functions, the first lady function was taken over by other women in the family and the were actually called first lady. Williamb 12:29, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

The Netherlands is a monarchy, not a republic. —Seselwa 20:10, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Canada is a monarchy, not a republic. —Seselwa 02:09, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Heads of State/Govt, PMs, Presidents, Etc.

User:Sesel removed the Japanese PM's wife (Akie Abe) from the list, adding the note that PM's don't count, which helps to explain / define, but I wonder if we could actually have a bit more of an explanation of the distinctions on the article page itself. I suspect I'm not alone in being confused about the relevant terms -- for example, Akie Abe has "First Ladies" as a category ... So, is the reason that wives of PMs aren't included because PMs are "heads of government" not "heads of state" (and is that always the case? or is PM sometimes a locally-specific title with a different meaning?) If we can advance a clear statement based on the titles, it would be good to offer a one-sentence explanation of the distinction b/w HOGs and HOSs and the rationale for including the one in "First Ladies" and not the other. I think it would be helpful in maintaining this page. I can't propose language, but I'll be happy to comment as a layperson on what is actually not confusing. <g> --LQ 15:20, 8 December 2006 (UTC)