First lady inching into high-profile role

Her first solo White House event was International Women’s Day luncheon

WASHINGTON — Melania Trump has begun to embrace her role as first lady, after inviting influential women to a lunch at the White House in recognition of International Women’s Day.

The event, held almost two months into President Donald Trump’s term, was seen as a foray into the role of first lady for a woman described by her husband as a “very private person.” She had spent a couple of weeks hunkered down at the family’s midtown Manhattan penthouse while Trump got to work in Washington. Now, the former model is taking her first steps into her very public new role.

Mrs. Trump strode into the State Dining Room for her first solo White House event after an announcer intoned, “Ladies and gentlemen, the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump,” and was greeted by the all-female group of about 50 people, including ambassadors, Cabinet members, at least one U.S. senator and stepdaughter Ivanka Trump.

Mrs. Trump asked guests for suggestions on how best to empower women and girls worldwide. Trump said recently that his wife, who turns 47 next month, feels strongly about “women’s difficulties.”

“I will work alongside you in ensuring that the gender of one’s birth does not determine one’s treatment in society,” she told guests, according to a tweet by a White House official.

In recent weeks, Mrs. Trump helped plan the first

big White House social event, an annual, black-tie dinner for the nation’s governors. She followed up with a trip the next day to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate in Virginia, where she was hosted by the governors’ spouses.

The first lady has made other appearances, watching her husband sign legislation and executive orders, and accompanying him to the Capitol for a speech to Congress.

She took her counterparts from Japan and Israel on cultural outings and quickly learned the burden of new scrutiny and protocol when she was criticized for not being at the White House to greet the Japanese prime minister’s wife. Instead, Mrs. Trump met the president and Shinzo Abe and his wife, Akie, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland for an Air Force One flight to Florida. Trump treated Abe to a weekend at Trump’s estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Melania Trump then took Akie Abe to tour a nearby Japanese garden.

Unlike many of Mrs. Trump’s predecessors, who were politically experienced through marriage to governors or members of Congress, she is married to a lifelong businessman who didn’t hold elective office until he became president.

Complicating her White House launch is the couple’s decision for the first lady to continue living at Trump Tower until their 10-yearold son, Barron, finishes the school year. She’s not expected to live full time at the White House for at least several more months.

Melania Trump has also been slow to staff the East Wing of the White House, where her office is based. She so far has named only a social secretary and a chief of staff. The president has said he doesn’t want to fill hundreds of government vacancies because they are “unnecessary,” which could include the East Wing.