Former US first lady, Michelle Obama, is really not cut out for politics. In and out of the White House, she has continued to be blunt. In matters concerning the advancement of women, Mrs. Obama remains totally committed. Hear her, “Change starts close to home. So, looking for the next person to run for president has been our distraction. We’re just going to wait for the next person to save us,” She continued later in the conversation, which took place in front of a crowd of roughly 6,000 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. “We thought it was Barack Obama, and then he didn’t end racism.”
Mrs. Obama made the remarks at the gathering tagged – United State of Women Summit — a conference packed with activists and heavy-hitter speakers addressing issues women face today. This year’s event was the second United State of Women conference; the first was held in 2016, and the goal is to connect and amplify activist organizations who are working towards the advancement of girls and women.
While the conference was mainly upbeat — centered on how to use your voice, reclaim power, find joy, and tackle issues of sexual violence, economic inequality, mental health, mass incarceration, disability rights, and immigration — Mrs. Obama was blunt about her worries, saying, “In light of the last presidential election, I’m concerned about us as women and how we think.”
“I think if we want our daughters to dream bigger than we did, then we have more work to do,” she said of the next steps she believes women need to take. “So many of us have gotten ourselves at the table, but we’re still too grateful to be at the table to really shift the thinking. And that’s not a criticism, because for so many of us just getting to the table was so hard, right? So you’re just holding on! But now we have to take some risks for our girls.”
Mrs. Obama also had advice for men on how to advance women’s rights — especially fathers who want their daughters to be able to realize their dreams. “Because the workplace you work in – the times you turn your head, you look the other way, the times you’re sitting at a table where there are no people of color, no women,” she said. “If you’re tolerating that, that’s the workplace that is going to be waiting for your little girl. You’ve sold her a bill of goods! You told her she could be anything, but you’re not working to make sure that can be actualized.”
