Sacramento, Aug. 11 -- California Gov. Gavin Newsom was wrapping up a meeting with the president of El Salvador in April when his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, spoke up in fluent Spanish.

What, she asked Salvador Sanchez Ceren, did he have to say about the country's poor record on women's rights? Newsom, who doesn't speak the language, learned what she had asked through a translator and worried his host would be offended. But Sanchez Ceren didn't seem phased and gave a lengthy answer about progress and work that remains.

Gavin Newsom said in a recent interview he should have expected his wife's forthrightness.

"There's no timidity with Jen when it comes to things she cares about and causes she holds dear," he said.

And the chief cause...