Michelle Obama Urges World Leaders To ‘Let Girls Learn’


Michelle Obama has been a global champion for female empowerment. Recently, Michelle Obama teamed up with legendary songwriter Diane Warren to release an appealing female empowerment anthem titled “This Is for My Girls,” aimed to help promote her “Let Girls Learn” initiative. The initiative will help to provide education to an estimated 62 million girls around the world who do not attend school. Some of these girls lack access to education while others are prohibited from attending school due to social dogmas.

Michelle Obama feels that it is her duty as the First Lady and as a mother to keep raising her voice on their behalf to create the much-needed awareness on issues specifically affecting girls. The song’s proceeds will go the Peace Corps Let Girls Learn Fund. According to Time, Michelle brought together some of the most well-known female singers today to announce the song at the South by Southwest Music Festival, an annual 10-day conference and festival that draws some 80,000 people to Austin.

The initiative aims to mobilize policy makers, diplomats and volunteers to work together on the issue. Michelle Obama has said that improving global educational opportunities for girls helps to increase the gross domestic product of a country because educated women are not only able to raise healthier children but they are also able to generate income for their family.

By now, Michelle Obama is well accustomed to receiving negative feedback while facing challenging issues which are at the intersection of race and community. Lately, she has been facing a lot of conservative criticism for her initiative for resolving the problem of childhood obesity. She is frequently criticized for not practicing what she preaches. However, New York Daily News reported that Michelle Obama is known to prove the doubters wrong and her will is further strengthened by the support of President Barack Obama, her husband, who remarked that Michelle’s physical fitness is a role model for kids.

And Michelle wants to practice what she preaches by urging world leaders, local leaders and families to send girls to school to unlock their academic potential. According to USA Today, Michelle Obama highlighted the fact that there are many cultures in which women are raised to be subservient to men.

In fact, Michelle Obama herself had encountered many doubters in Chicago when it came to her own education and achievements. Recently, Michelle wrote an exclusive essay on girls education for the Atlantic where she said, “we cannot address our girls’ education crisis until we address the broader cultural beliefs and practices that can help cause and perpetuate this crisis.”

Michelle Obama intends to deliver this message specifically to educate girls living in the areas of the Middle East which are rural, conflict ridden and culturally backward. There is a general consensus that lasting peace in the Middle East depends on empowering young women through education. Additionally, the female education program will target those countries from East Europe, Africa and Asia, for which political instability and chaos is the norm. Peace Corps Volunteers working at the grassroots level will recruit and train local leaders to focus specifically on girls’ access to education.

Michelle Obama argues that channeling funds and advocating the promotion of girls’ education will enable governments to make education more affordable for girls. Additionally, it will also help the authorities to provide safe transportation and better sanitation facilities in schools. Schools will be able to promote safety, health and affordable stationary and supplies to all students, whether male or female. Educated girls who are healthy and economically secure are in a better position to pursue their dreams and aspirations by challenging unjust laws, corrupt beliefs and wrong values. According to Michelle Obama, this initiative will eventually lead to a virtuous cycle.

[Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images]

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