Michelle Obama talks about women's education and empowerment
The former first lady of the United States continues to use her status to advocate for change, especially in the education of adolescent girls and women around the world. She tells us about the strength of educating women, but also about the women who inspired her in her educational journey and the need to believe in yourself.
After becoming the first female African-American president of the United States, Michelle Obama quickly established herself as one of the world's most famous public women. Celebrated for her inspirational speaking skills, her speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention earned her worldwide admiration and numerous calls for her candidacy for the US presidential election.
Although she no longer lives in the White House, she has continued to use her fame to change society, through the Obama Foundation association founded with her husband Barack Obama in 2014. The couple also signed an agreement with Netflix, which has enabled their audiovisual production company Higher Ground Productions to work on several documentaries and fictional series around themes close to their hearts, including the Oscar-winning film American Factory, which focuses on the factory of a Chinese company located in Ohio.
But it is above all the cause of women and adolescent girls around the world that Michelle Obama has championed. In October 2018, she launched the Girls Opportunity Alliance, which aims to improve the lives of women through education. This is an eminently personal issue for the former First Lady, who documented her trajectory from the South Side of Chicago to the White House in her autobiography Devenir, a 2019 bestseller. “Neither of my parents, and hardly anyone in the neighborhood where I grew up went to university, ”she explained in a CNN report in 2016. For me, education is power”.
Programs supported by the Girls Opportunity Alliance will be followed in detail in Creators for Change, a new YouTube Originals series that will broadcast conversations on international issues of concern. In honor of Women's History Month in the United States (March 1-31), the first episode will see Michelle Obama discuss the state of women's education around the world with YouTube creators Liza Koshy , Prajakta Koli and Thembe Mahlaba.
Exclusive to Michelle Obama spoke to Vogue about the women who were involved in her education, how she cope with her impostor syndrome, and the key role of educating women in our future.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance is dedicated to improving the quality of life for adolescent girls through education. Why did you focus on education as a way to assert yourself?
“As a girl who grew up on the South Side of Chicago, my access to a quality education was not a given. But I had a powerful lawyer in my mother, Marian Robinson. She did everything in her power to help: she organized fundraisers for new school equipment, dinners to thank our overworked teachers, and she applied pressure as soon as she felt that the level tended to relax. Not only did my mother make sure that I learned my multiplication tables and that I knew the solar system, but her actions instilled in me a sense of my own worth, the feeling that my voice, my talent, my ambition. , it mattered. My life would be very different today if I hadn't had this support.
I wish every girl on this planet could have the same opportunities as me. But today, more than 98 million adolescent girls around the world are out of school. It is an injustice that affects us all. We know that girls in school have healthier, happier lives and that the whole world benefits. This is the reason why together with the Obama Foundation, we launched the Girls Opportunity Alliance - our job is to help the organizations and people that exist and who are already fighting on the ground to remove the obstacles that oppose the education of women in their community. Every girl deserves the opportunity to pursue her passion and develop her unlimited potential. "
Who are the women who have played an important role in your own educational journey?
“I have already mentioned my mother, Marian Robinson, who has a persistence and quiet strength that I hope I will someday achieve. My Great Aunt Robbie was also a huge influence on me, she taught me the piano when I was little in Chicago and gave me my first lessons in self-discipline and adversarial debate. We clashed frequently, I kept skipping the pages of my book to learn more complicated pieces, but she didn't understand it. She believed in patience and diligence, concepts still foreign to the five-year-old girl that I was.
“In one of my first recitals, I sat behind the piano and found that I didn't know where to place my hands. The house piano only had chipped keys, and I had always used them as benchmarks. As I was starting to panic, Robbie gracefully rose from her chair in the audience, and she came over to the stool. She gently placed my finger on middle C and I was able to play my tune.
“I often think back to that moment because I hope this is what we can give young girls: the opportunity to learn and experience new things, to be a hand that guides them and holds them back when they are stumble, but we can also give them the freedom to express themselves in the field of their choice ”.
You have spoken publicly about "impostor syndrome" and its negative impact on girls and women. How did you face him and do you have any advice to give to overcome him?
“Impostor Syndrome is a real pain. Women have been told for so long that they don't belong in a classroom, in a conference room, or anywhere where real decisions are made, when we finally arrive in the room, we always have the impression of not deserving our place at the table. We question our judgment, our abilities, and the reasons that got us to where we are. Even when we are the most expert on the subject, it can still cause us to remain discreet and not go to the maximum of our abilities.
This has happened to me many, many times. What has helped me the most is remembering that we are often our worst critics. Women and girls already face so much: but the truth is, you wouldn't be here if you weren't in your place. And while negative thoughts inevitably flow in as we take on new roles and face new challenges, we can be mindful of them, without these thoughts preventing us from occupying the field and making the difference. job. This is the only way we can lift ourselves up, going beyond our fears and building our confidence, recognizing that our voices and ideas have value.
What actions can we take to ensure that we hear more from young girls and women?
“First of all, it is up to all of us to make sure that every young girl has access to a quality education. We also need to give girls the chance to find their own voices. Women are often told that they should speak out, speak out, fight on their own against the inequalities they face. But if we don't give them the opportunity to practice and discover their own voices, how will they ever raise their voice? It takes training for your voice to reach the world.
At the same time, we must include boys and men in this effort. So much could change in a generation if our boys were taught to listen to girls, to see them as their equals. Because the truth is that women are just as capable of leading as men. And if we give girls the opportunity to be the women they aspire to be, we can truly create a virtuous circle that changes the face of the world.
What message would you like to send to Vogue readers?
“The evidence speaks for itself: when women are educated, incredible change takes place. Women in school have healthier children, better wages, and lower poverty rates. They can even boost the economy of their country. When women learn to think for themselves, they think of others and find solutions to some of the planet's most pressing problems. The future of our world can only be bright as long as it includes our daughters. Investing in their education is the best thing we can do for each and every one of us "
