Women’s History Month Profile Michelle Obama
In honor of Women’s History Month the Dean Hope Center will be highlighting the work of women who have had success in elevating women and girls across the world. The first woman to be highlighted in this series is Michelle Obama.
In honor of Women’s History Month the Dean Hope Center will be highlighting the work of women who have had success in elevating women and girls across the world. The first woman to be highlighted in this series is Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama is a human rights activist, lawyer, and former first lady of the United States of America. Michelle Obama was born Michelle Robinson on the southside of Chicago. Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton University class of 1985 and Harvard Law School class of 1988. In her early career, she worked as a corporate attorney where she met Barack Obama. Michelle realized corporate law would not fulfill her and ultimately began a career in public service in 1991 where she would work for the city of Chicago Mayor’s office, and later Chicago University overseeing their hospitals and community relations. This blog post will highlight Michelle Obama’s life and accomplishments as an influential advocate for women’s rights.
As the first lady of the United States Michelle Obama leveraged her experience in public service to create Let Girls Learn, “a U.S. government initiative aimed at helping adolescent girls attain a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential.” This program was able to partner with over 100 organizations such as the Peace Corps, AOL, IBM, and Georgetown University in order to identify community-based solutions for the barriers of adolescent girls’ education internationally. This program allowed for Michelle Obama to take a diplomatic approach to public service work partnering with other countries in the United Nations to help fund and promote the program.
After the White House Michelle Obama continues to work as a human rights activist promoting the need for girls to have access to education internationally. Recently, Michelle Obama partnered with Melinda Gates and Amal Clooney to write 3 Ways to End Child Marriages. In the article, there is a personal story of a girl Miriam, an 11-year old girl, who is forced to marry due to her family’s economic circumstances. “12 million girls around the world, including in the United States and Europe,” when the man of the household dies and the mother is undereducated there is little hope for survival–leaving child marriages as the only solution.
This is a vicious cycle, and that is why when you educate one girl you educate a generation.
As we celebrate women’s history month the Dean Hope Center encourages our students, patients, and staff to support the women in their communities. This can be as simple as supporting women owned businesses, mentoring a young girl in your community, or donating sanitary products to your local homeless shelter. Whatever action you can take know you are making a difference in the lives of women.
Sources: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/letgirlslearn
https://www.history.com/topics/first-ladies/michelle-obama
https://time.com/6260844/ending-child-marriage-amal-clooney-melinda-french-gates-michelle-o bama/