Michelle Obama's New Initiative Will Empower Girls Through Education
Michelle Obama’s Global Girls Alliance seeks to provide equitable education for girls all over the world
Around the world, there are 98 million girls who aren’t in school. Despite major strides in equitable access to schools, there are still so many girls who don’t have access to education. So this week, on International Day of the Girl, Michelle Obama announced her new initiative to combat that.
It’s called the Global Girls Alliance, and according to a press release from the Obama Foundation, it’s “an effort to empower adolescent girls around the world through education, so that they can support their families, communities, and countries.”
“As a part of the Global Girls Alliance, we’re taking a fresh approach to support the grassroots leaders who are already working in communities all over the world,” the release says.
It was announced with this adorable and powerful video, which features girls singing an Aretha Franklin classic. Because who else?
The Alliance will provide networking and tools so those grassroots leaders can increase and scale the work they’re already doing to provide girls with better educational opportunities. It will also partner with GoFundMe to raise money that will “empower girls in places like India, Guatemala, or Uganda.”
This is vitally important. Think of what girls and women could contribute to science, medicine, and humanities if they had equitable access to education as boys. As the announcement video points out, when girls and boys have equal access to high quality education, poverty rates go down while local GDP goes up. Education makes for better global citizens, and it’s something that everyone should have access to.
The Global Girls Alliance already has some big name members, including Lupita Nyong’o and Serena Williams, who both tweeted out their support soon after the announcement was made public.
The Obama Foundation has always put a pretty heavy emphasis on educational goals, but this is the Obamas’ first initiative that’s specifically for girls. It’s so important, and so needed. And we can’t think of anyone better than Michelle Obama to lead it. Here’s to a brighter future for all girls, all over the world.
