Jill Biden, successful first lady, hardworking teacher and doctor despite whoever it may be
New York, Jan 20 (EFE) .- Jill Biden, the brand new first lady of the United States, will make history by keeping her job as a teacher despite the demands of her new role, in which she will surely mark a strong contrast with her predecessor, Melania Trump.
Jill Biden, 69, has dedicated her life to education. She began as a secondary school teacher for children with special needs and during her husband's vice presidency in 2009, she combined a busy institutional schedule with her job as an English teacher at a college in Virginia, where as first lady she will continue to serve as the first lady. her work.
That decision, to continue maintaining her labor independence, in addition to staying in charge of the first lady's office, is historic.
"It is difficult for me to consider my decision in historical terms, because I already taught during the eight years that I was second lady," she explained last month in an interview with comedian Stephen Colbert.
Despite the intense political career of Joe Biden, who tried to run for the presidency on several occasions and was vice president of Barack Obama for eight years, Jill has developed her career as a teacher and has been during this difficult year an advocate of the importance of the educators during the pandemic.
The first lady she obtained in 2007 a doctorate in education, a degree that she worked for six years, but which recently came under misogynistic criticism from an opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal.
The column, full of macho comments, criticized Jill Biden - who has publicly said that her doctorate is one of the achievements that makes her most proud - for publicly using that honorary title that she holds, despite not being a "doctor or having helped bring someone into the world. "
Former First Lady Michelle Obama responded to those criticisms by recalling that "there is no better example" of a hardworking person than Jill.
"For eight years I watched Dr. Jill Biden do what many professional women do on a daily basis. Successfully manage more than one responsibility, from her duties as a teacher to her official duties at the White House or her role as mother, wife and friend. "said Michelle Obama.
That attack is an appetizer of what awaits Jill Biden in the White House, shaping an sometimes thankless role that has been treated within the corsets traditionally reserved for women and that other first ladies have wanted to reshape.
Jill and Joe met in 1975 at a date arranged by the second's brother. Jill was still finishing her English degree at the University of Delaware and was separating from her first husband. Joe Biden had just spent three tough years after the death of his first wife, Neilia Hunter Biden, in a traffic accident, in which his daughter Naomi, still a baby, also died.
The two were married in 1977 in a low-key Catholic ceremony at the United Nations chapel in New York.
Jill came to replace the emptiness of the Biden family to become not only the wife of the then senator, but also a mother to his children, Beau and Hunter. "She put the pieces back together. She gave me life and a family back," Joe Biden said in an interview.
After four years of marriage, their only daughter was born: Ashley Biden, an activist and social worker very close to the recently inaugurated president.
Jill, who grew up in a middle-class family in Philadelphia, has tried to maintain a discreet and independent role from politics that she has lived through on a daily basis for decades, first in her husband's years as a senator and later as a senator. vice president.
Her students call her "Doctor B" and they will soon face the dilemma of dealing with the first lady of the United States, who will combine a work agenda that could prioritize issues such as the fight against cancer, the coronavirus pandemic or childhood. . EFE
