AP Photo
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the First Lady
July 30, 2014
REMARKS BY THE FIRST LADY AT THE SUMMIT OF THE MANDELA WASHINGTON FELLOWSHIP FOR YOUNG AFRICAN LEADERS
The Omni Shoreham Hotel
Washington, D.C.
11:01 A.M. EDT
MRS. OBAMA: Oh, my goodness. Look at you all! (Applause.)
Oh, please sit, sit. Rest. (Laughter.) How has everything been?
Exciting? So you’ve talked to a lot of important people — my husband,
he was here. (Applause.) That’s good. And a few other people? You’ve
been traveling around the country doing great things. It is such a
pleasure, and such an honor and a joy to join you here today for this
wonderful summit.
Let me start by thanking John for that beautiful introduction,
but more importantly, for his outstanding leadership for young people —
in particular, young girls — in Uganda. And I want to take a moment to
thank all of you for being part of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for
Young African Leaders. Yes. (Applause.) We have been so excited
about your presence here in this country. We have been so excited.
Now, I’ve had the opportunity to read through your bios, and I
have to tell you that I am truly in awe of what you all have achieved.
Many of you are barely half my age, yet you already have founded
businesses and NGOs, you’ve served as leaders in your government, you’ve
earned countless degrees, you know dozens of languages. So you all
truly represent the talent, the energy and the diversity that is
Africa’s lifeblood, and it is an honor to host you here in the United
States. (Applause.) We’re so proud.
Now, from what I’ve heard, you all have been making good use of
this time here. You’ve been learning new skills, questioning old
assumptions, and having some frank conversations with experts and with
each other about the challenges and opportunities in your countries.
And I want to use our time together today to continue that dialogue.
Today, I want us to talk -– and I mean really talk. I want to speak as
openly and honestly as possible about the issues we care about and what
it means to be a leader not just in Africa but in the world today.
Now, one of the issues that I care deeply about is, as John
alluded to, girls’ education. And across the globe, the statistic on
this issue are heartbreaking. Right now, 62 million girls worldwide are
not in school, including nearly 30 million girls in Sub-Saharan Africa.
And as we saw in Pakistan, where Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head
by Taliban gunmen, and in Nigeria where more than 200 girls were
kidnapped from their school dormitory by Boko Haram terrorists, even
when girls do attend school, they often do so at great risk.
And as my husband said earlier this week, we know that when
girls aren’t educated, that doesn’t just limit their prospects, leaving
them more vulnerable to poverty, violence and disease, it limits the
prospects of their families and their countries as well.
Now, in recent years, there’s been a lot of talk about how to
address this issue, and how we need more schools and teachers, more
money for toilets and uniforms, transportation, school fees. And of
course, all of these issues are critically important, and I could give a
perfectly fine speech today about increasing investments in girls’
education around the world.
But I said I wanted to be honest. And if I do that, we all know
that the problem here isn’t only about resources, it’s also about
attitudes and beliefs. It’s about whether fathers and mothers think
their daughters are as worthy of an education as their sons. It’s about
whether societies cling to outdated laws and traditions that oppress
and exclude women, or whether they view women as full citizens entitled
to fundamental rights.
So the truth is, I don’t think it’s really productive to talk
about issues like girls’ education unless we’re willing to have a much
bigger, bolder conversation about how women are viewed and treated in
the world today. (Applause.) And we need to be having this
conversation on every continent and in every country on this planet.
And that’s what I want to do today with all of you, because so many of
you are already leading the charge for progress in Africa.
Now, as an African American woman, this conversation is deeply
personal to me. The roots of my family tree are in Africa. As you
know, my husband’s father was born and raised in Kenya — (applause) —
and members of our extended family still live there. I have had the
pleasure of traveling to Africa a number of times over the years,
including four trips as First Lady, and I have brought my mother and my
daughters along with me whenever I can. So believe me, the blood of
Africa runs through my veins, and I care deeply about Africa’s future.
(Applause.)
Now, the status of women in Africa is also personal to me as a
woman. See, what I want you all to understand is that I am who I am
today because of the people in my family -– particularly the men in my
family -– who valued me and invested in me from the day I was born. I
had a father, a brother, uncles, grandfathers who encouraged me and
challenged me, protected me, and told me that I was smart and strong and
beautiful. (Applause.)
And as I grew up, the men who raised me set a high bar for the
type of men I’d allow into my life — (applause) — which is why I went on
to marry a man who had the good sense to fall in love with a woman who
was his equal — (applause) — and to treat me as such; a man who supports
and reveres me, and who supports and reveres our daughters, as well.
(Applause.)
And throughout my life — understand this — every opportunity
I’ve had, every achievement I’m proud of has stemmed from this solid
foundation of love and respect. So given these experiences, it saddens
and confuses me to see that too often, women in some parts of Africa are
still denied the rights and opportunities they deserve to realize their
potential.
Now, let’s be very clear: In many countries in Africa, women
have made tremendous strides. More girls are attending school. More
women are starting businesses. Maternal mortality has plummeted. And
more women are serving in parliaments than ever before. In fact, in
some countries, more than 30 percent of legislators are women. In
Rwanda, it’s over 50 percent — which, by the way, is more than double
the percentage of women in the U.S. Congress. Yes. (Applause.)
Now, these achievements represent remarkable progress. But at
the same time, when girls in some places are still being married off as
children, sometimes before they even reach puberty; when female genital
mutilation still continues in some countries; when human trafficking,
rape and domestic abuse are still too common, and perpetrators are often
facing no consequences for their crimes — then we still have some
serious work to do in Africa and across the globe.
And while I have great respect for cultural differences, I think
we can all agree that practices like genital cutting, forced child
marriage, domestic violence are not legitimate cultural practices, they
are serious human rights violations and have no place in any country on
this Earth. (Applause.) These practices have no place in our shared
future, because we all know that our future lies in our people -– in
their talent, their ambition, their drive. And no country can ever
truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives
itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.
And I know this firsthand from the history of my own country. A
century ago, women in America weren’t allowed to vote. Decades ago, it
was perfectly legal for employers to refuse to hire women. Domestic
violence was viewed not as a crime, but as a private family matter
between a man and his wife.
But in each generation, people of conscience stood up and
rejected these unjust practices. They chained themselves to the White
House gates, waged hunger strikes in prison to win the right to vote.
They took their bosses to court. They spoke out about rape and fought
to prosecute rapists, despite the stigma and shame. They left their
abusive husbands, even when that meant winding up on the streets with
their children. (Applause.)
And today in America, we see the results of those hard-fought
battles: 60 percent of college students today are women. Women are now
more than half the workforce. And in recent decades, women’s
employment has added nearly $2 trillion to the U.S. economy -– yes,
trillion. (Applause.)
Now, are we anywhere near full economic, political, and domestic
equality in the United States? Absolutely not. We still struggle
every day with serious issues like violence against women, unequal pay.
Women are still woefully underrepresented in our government and in the
senior ranks of our corporations.
But slowly, generation after generation, we’ve been moving in
the right direction because of brave individuals who were willing to
risk their jobs, their reputations, and even their lives to achieve
equality. And it wasn’t just brave women who made these sacrifices. It
was also brave men, too — (applause) — men who hired women, men who
passed laws to empower women, men who prosecuted other men who abused
women.
So to all the men, my brothers here today, I have a simple
message: We need you to shake things up. (Applause.) Too often, women
are fighting these battles alone, but men like you, progressive men who
are already ahead of the curve on women’s issues, you all are
critically important to solving this problem.
And that starts by doing a little introspection. And I say this
not just to the 250 of you who are in the room today, but to men around
the world. Men in every country need to look into their hearts and
souls and ask themselves whether they truly view and treat women as
their equals. (Applause.) And then when you all encounter men in your
lives who answer no to that question, then you need to take them to
task. You need to tell them that any man who uses his strength to
oppress women is a coward, and he is holding back the progress of his
family and his country. (Applause.)
Tell them that a truly strong, powerful man isn’t threatened by a
strong, powerful woman. (Applause.) Instead, he is challenged by her,
he is inspired by her, he is pleased to relate to her as an equal. And
I want you to keep modeling that behavior yourselves by promoting women
in your companies, passing laws to empower women in your countries, and
holding the same ambitious dreams for your daughters as you do for your
sons.
And to the women here, my sisters —
AUDIENCE MEMBER: We love you!
MRS. OBAMA: And I love you. I do. (Applause.) Which is why I
want us as women to understand that oppression is not a one-way street.
See, too often, without even realizing it, we as women
internalize the oppression we face in our societies by believing harmful
messages about how we should look and act, particularly as women of
color –- messages that tell us that we’re ugly or irrelevant, that we
don’t deserve full control over our bodies, that we should keep our
mouths shut and just do as we’re told. And then, too often, we turn
around and impose those same beliefs on other women and girls in our
lives, including our own daughters.
For example, in countries across the globe, there are women who
still support and carry out the practice of genital cutting. There are
women who are still insisting on marrying off their young daughters or
keeping them home from school to help with the housework.
And then there are the more subtle harms that we afflict —
inflict on each other — the harm of spurning our sisters who don’t
conform to traditions because we’re jealous or suspicious of their
courage and their freedom; the harm of turning a blind eye when a woman
in our community is being abused because we don’t want to cause conflict
with our neighbors by speaking up.
And I imagine that for some of you here today, getting your
degree might have meant disobeying or disappointing your families.
Maybe while you’ve been acing your studies and thriving in your career,
you have a grandmother who has been wringing her hands because you’re
not yet married. (Laughter and applause.) But, my sisters, you all are
here today because you have found a way to overcome these challenges,
and you have blossomed into powerful, accomplished women. And we need
you all to help others do the same.
All of us, men and women on every continent, we all need to
identify these problems in ourselves and in our communities, and then
commit to solving them. And I say this to you not just as lawyers and
activists and business leaders, but as current and future parents.
Because as a mother myself, I can tell you that this is where change
truly happens. With the behavior we model, with our actions and
inactions, every day, we as parents shape the values of the next
generation.
For example, my parents never had the chance to attend
university, but they had the courage and foresight to push me to get the
best education I could. And they weren’t threatened by the prospect of
me having more opportunities than they had — just the opposite. They
were thrilled.
And that’s what should drive us all: The hope of raising the
next generation to be stronger, smarter and bolder than our generation.
(Applause.) And that is exactly the kind of work that so many of you
are already doing in your families and your communities, which is why
I’m so proud of you.
I could name all of you, but there are a few of you that I will
remark on. Mahamadou Camara from Mali. (Applause.) He is working to
educate women about micro-credit and accounting so that they can run
their own businesses and build better lives for their children. In
Liberia, Patrice Juah. (Applause.) She founded Miss Education
Awareness Pageant to inspire girls to pursue higher education and have
opportunities their parents never dreamed of. And in Burundi, Fikiri
Nzoyisenga. (Applause.) He created a youth coalition to fight violence
against women because he doesn’t want anything to hold them back from
pursuing their dreams.
This is where Africa’s future lies –- with those women-run
businesses, with those girls attending university, and with leaders like
you who are making those dreams possible. And the question today is
how all of you and young people like you will steer Africa’s course to
embrace that future. Because ultimately, that’s what leadership is
really about. It’s not just about holding degrees or holding elected
office. And it’s not about preserving our own power or continuing
traditions that oppress and exclude.
Leadership is about creating new traditions that honor the
dignity and humanity of every individual. Leadership is about
empowering all of our people –- men, women, boys and girls –- to fulfill
every last bit of their God-given potential. And when we commit to
that kind of leadership across the globe, that is when we truly start
making progress on girls’ education. Because that’s when families in
small villages around the world will demand equal opportunities for
their daughters. They won’t wait. That’s when countries will willingly
and generously invest in sending their girls to school, because they’ll
know how important it is.
And we all know the ripple effects we can have when we give our
girls a chance to learn. We all know that girls who are educated earn
higher wages. They’re more likely to stand up to discrimination and
abuse. They have healthier children who are more likely to attend
school themselves.
So no matter where you all work, no matter what issue you focus
on — whether it’s health or microfinance, human rights or clean energy —
women’s equality must be a central part of your work. It must.
(Applause.) Because make no mistake about it, the work of transforming
attitudes about women, it now falls on your shoulders. And it’s up to
you all to embrace the future, and then drag your parents and
grandparents along with you. (Laughter.)
And I know this won’t be easy. I know that you will face all
kinds of obstacles and resistance — you already have. But when you get
tired or frustrated, when things seem hopeless and you start thinking
about giving up, I want you to remember the words of the man whom your
fellowship is now named — and I know these words have been spoken many
times. As Madiba once said, “It always seems impossible until it is
done.” And I, oh, I know the truth of those words from my own history
and from the history of my country.
My ancestors came here in chains. My parents and grandparents
knew the sting of segregation and discrimination. Yet I attended some
of the best universities in this country. I had career opportunities
beyond my wildest dreams. And today, I live in the White House, a
building — (applause) — but we must remember, we live in a home that was
constructed by slaves.
Today, I watch my daughters –- two beautiful African American
girls -– walking our dogs in the shadow of the Oval Office. And today, I
have the privilege of serving and representing the United States of
America across the globe.
So my story and the story of my country is the story of the
impossible getting done. And I know that can be your story and that can
be Africa’s story too. (Applause.) But it will take new energy, it
will take new ideas, new leadership from young people like you. That is
why we brought you here today.
We’ve done this because we believe in Africa, and we believe in
all of you. And understand we are filled with so much hope and so many
expectations for what you will achieve. You hold the future of your
continent in your hands, and I cannot wait to see everything you will
continue to accomplish in the years ahead.
Thank you. God bless. (Applause.)
END 11:26 A.M. EDT
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