FEATURE:
Feminist Icons
PHOTO CREDIT: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
have not read any books by Michelle Obama, I would recommend that you do so! You can find more details here. Her incredible and powerful memoir, Becoming, is a book I would recommend everyone reads. Released in 2018, it won critical praise and was a bestseller. I wonder whether we will get another book from Michelle Obama soon. The former First Lady is someone who inspired countless girls and women around the world. I am going to highlight in a minute how she is a modern-day feminist icon. First, here are some more details about Becoming:
“In a life filled with meaning and accomplishment, Michelle Obama has emerged as one of the most iconic and compelling women of our era. As First Lady of the United States of America—the first African American to serve in that role—she helped create the most welcoming and inclusive White House in history, while also establishing herself as a powerful advocate for women and girls in the U.S. and around the world, dramatically changing the ways that families pursue healthier and more active lives, and standing with her husband as he led America through some of its most harrowing moments. Along the way, she showed us a few dance moves, crushed Carpool Karaoke, and raised two down-to-earth daughters under an unforgiving media glare.
In her memoir, now available in paperback and as a Young Readers edition, Michelle Obama invites readers into her world, chronicling the experiences that have shaped her—from her childhood on the South Side of Chicago to her years as an executive balancing the demands of motherhood and work, to her time spent at the world’s most famous address. With unerring honesty and lively wit, she describes her triumphs and her disappointments, both public and private, telling her full story as she has lived it—in her own words and on her own terms. Warm, wise, and revelatory, Becoming is the deeply personal reckoning of a woman of soul and substance who has steadily defied expectations—and whose story inspires us to do the same”.
I know that The Trouble Club (and its owner, Ellie Newton) have Michelle Obama top on their list of dream guests. I hope one day that she is able to speak for them as I would love to see her! I am going to bring in some articles and interviews highlighting Obama’s feminism and her drive for equality. The advice that she gives to young girls and women. Someone who has empowered so many people through the years, she is still such an inspirational figure. This 2016 article from Dr. Patricia Fletcher about the White House-convened United State of Women (USOW) summit, where Michelle Obama spoke passionately and brilliantly at during a dinner at the event is well worth reading. I am going to move things forward in a minute. I am interested in this 2018 article, where Michelle Obana urged the world to keep fighting for equality – even if it makes people uncomfortable. At such a dangerous time for women and girls (as it is now), she said how tired and drained women are:
“The #MeToo movement has highlighted what a "dangerous place" the world is for women and girls, and this generation can't give up its fight for gender equality — even if makes some people uncomfortable, Michelle Obama says.
"I'm surprised at how much has changed, but how much has not changed," the former first lady said in an exclusive interview on the "Today" show Thursday, just over a year after the global reckoning against sexual harassment and assault began.
"Enough is enough."
"The world is, a, sadly, dangerous place for women and girls," she added. "And I think young women are tired of it. They're tired of being undervalued. They're tired of being disregarded."
Obama's comments came after a particularly emotional couple of weeks and just days after President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, was confirmed to the high court, despite allegations of sexual assault against him dating back decades playing out in a public hearing that captivated — and divided — the nation.
After a bitter confirmation process, Trump openly mocked Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, and apologized to Kavanaugh for the "terrible pain and suffering" that the accusations had caused him. Meanwhile, the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., said the fallout over the Kavanaugh allegations made him more concerned for his sons than his daughters.
“I’ve got boys and I’ve got girls, and when I see what’s going on right now, it’s scary,” Trump Jr. told DailyMail TV.
Obama said the backlash to the #MeToo movement was to be expected, and said it shouldn't serve as a deterrence.
"That's what happens with change. Change is not a direct, smooth path. There's going to be bumps and resistance. There's been a status quo in terms of the way women have been treated, what their expectations have been in this society, and that is changing," she said.
"There's going to be a little upheaval, a little discomfort, but I think it's up to the women out there to say, 'Sorry. Sorry that you feel uncomfortable, but I'm now paving the way for the next generation.'"
Speaking on the International Day of the Girl, Obama also announced a new initiative called The Global Girls Alliance, which will focus on helping adolescent girls around the world secure an education.
And she said she still sticks by the famous motto that she first used during her speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention when it comes to avoiding pettiness in politics: "When they go low, we go high”.
I am going to stay in 2018. Michelle Obama. As Slate reported, when promoting her memoir, Becoming, Obama said that she did not believe in ‘lean-in’ feminism ("Lean In" within a feminist context, popularized by Sheryl Sandberg's book of the same name, refers to the idea of women taking assertive, leading roles in the workplace and beyond. It's a call for women to embrace their ambition, take risks, and not hold back from pursuing their goals, even if it means challenging traditional gender roles”). Whilst many women might not agree with her position, Michelle Obama explained how marriage – for many women – is still not equal. This idea of lean-in feminism maybe not applying to the modern landscape:
“The audience of 19,000 immediately went wild at the sound of Obama letting loose a curse word, and while she quickly apologized for the slip of tongue, she doubled down on her criticism of the philosophy popularized by Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg in 2013. “I thought we were at home, y’all,” Obama said, according to Glamour. “I was getting real comfortable up in here. All right, I’m back now. Sometimes that stuff doesn’t work.” For the uninitiated, the “lean in” corporatized version of feminism suggests that women can have it all if they just act like men and assert themselves more aggressively in the workplace. It immediately drew criticism for seeming to blame women for male-dominated workplaces, and as of 2017, even Sandberg admits that women haven’t progressed much since she popularized the slogan.
But let’s return to Obama. When she stepped onto the national stage with her husband over a decade ago, she was touted as the titular modern woman. From her many career accomplishments to her beautiful family to her effortless style, Obama seemed to embody the idea that women could indeed have it all. As Anne-Marie Slaughter wrote for the Atlantic in 2012, Obama “started out with the same résumé as her husband, but has repeatedly made career decisions designed to let her do work she cared about and also be the kind of parent she wanted to be.” Even though the former first lady said her priority in the White House was to be “mom-in-chief” and shepherd her two daughters through the trials of growing up in front of the country, it was abundantly clear that, as Slaughter put it, “we should see her as a full-time career woman, but one who is taking a very visible investment interval.”
To women everywhere but specifically to black women like me, Obama’s public persona was a physical manifestation of the idea that no matter who didn’t believe in us, we could be smart, accomplished, and have the American dream of two kids and a dog to go along with it. But the reality she sketched out in both her remarks on Saturday and in her memoir speak to something much more important: that to be a thoroughly modern woman in America is to sacrifice”.
I am going to move to a Vogue. Michelle Obama talked about ‘imposter syndrome’, empowering young women, and who her role models are. In terms of her legacy and place in the modern world, there are few more important and prominent than Obama. She has helped create so much discussion and activism. Her passion for empowering girls through education is particularly inspirational:
“Most importantly, Obama has made it her mission to champion women and adolescent girls around the world. In October 2018, she launched the Girls Opportunity Alliance, which empowers girls internationally through education. It’s an issue that the former first lady—who documents her journey from Chicago’s South Side to the White House in bestselling 2019 memoir Becoming—describes as hugely personal. “Neither of my parents and hardly anyone in the neighborhood where I grew up went to college,” she explained in a CNN op-ed in 2016. “For me, education was power.”
Programs supported by the Girls Opportunity Alliance will be profiled in Creators for Change, a new YouTube Originals series that will broadcast conversations on tough global issues. In honor of Women’s History Month (which runs from March 1 to 31), its inaugural episode will see Obama discuss the state of girls’ education around the world with YouTube creators Liza Koshy, Prajakta Koli, and Thembe Mahlaba.
Here, Michelle Obama speaks exclusively to Vogue about the women who helped raise her, how she deals with imposter syndrome, and why educating girls means a better future for all of us.
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The Girls Opportunity Alliance is dedicated to empowering adolescent girls through education. Why did you choose to focus on education as a path to empowerment?
“As a girl growing up on the South Side of Chicago, my access to a good education wasn’t always a guarantee. But I had a powerful advocate in my mother, Marian Robinson. She stepped in to help wherever she could—holding fundraisers for new classroom equipment, throwing appreciation dinners for my overworked teachers, and lobbying on my behalf whenever she sensed standards were slipping. Not only did my mother make sure I was learning my multiplication tables and planetary systems, her actions instilled in me a sense of my own worth: that my voice, talents, and ambition mattered. My life would look a lot different today if I hadn’t had that support.”
“I want every girl on this planet to have the same opportunities that I’ve had. But right now, more than 98 million adolescent girls around the world are not in school. That’s an injustice that affects all of us. We know that girls who go to school have healthier, happier lives, and when that happens, the whole world benefits. That’s why the Obama Foundation started the Girls Opportunity Alliance—we work to lift up the grassroots organizations and leaders around the world already doing the important work of clearing away hurdles to girls’ education in their communities. Every single girl deserves the chance to pursue her passions and fulfill her boundless potential.”
What women have impacted you the most in your own education journey?
“I already mentioned my mother Marian Robinson, who has a kind of quiet perseverance and strength that I still look to emulate. My great-aunt Robbie has been another huge influence on me. She taught me to play piano when I was a little girl in Chicago, and she gave me some of my earliest lessons in self-discipline and good old-fashioned debate. We often butted heads—I kept skipping ahead in my lesson book, itching to learn more complicated songs—but she just wasn’t having it. She believed in the value of patience and diligence, concepts that five-year-old me didn’t yet understand.
In one of my first recitals, I sat down to play my song only to realize I had no idea where to put my hands—our piano at home had chipped keys, and I’d always used them as a guide. Just as I was beginning to panic, Robbie gracefully rose from her seat in the audience and walked to the bench. She gently placed my finger on middle C. And then I played my song.
I think about that moment a lot, because I hope it’s what we can offer all girls—a chance to learn and try new things, a guiding hand to support them when they stumble, and then the freedom to express themselves through whatever medium they choose.”
You’ve spoken publicly about “imposter syndrome” and its negative impact on girls and women. How have you dealt with it and do you have any tips for overcoming it?
“Imposter syndrome is so tough. For so long, women and girls have been told we don’t belong in the classroom, boardroom, or any room where big decisions are being made. So when we do manage to get into the room, we are still second-guessing ourselves, unsure if we really deserve our seat at the table. We doubt our own judgment, our own abilities, and our own reasons for being where we are. Even when we know better, it can still lead to us playing it small and not standing in our full power.
I’ve been there plenty of times. What’s helped me most is remembering that our worst critics are almost always ourselves. Women and girls are already up against so much: The fact is that you wouldn’t be in that room if you didn’t belong there. And while negative thoughts are bound to crop up as you take on new roles and challenges, you can acknowledge them without letting them stop you from occupying space and doing the work. That’s really the only way we grow—by moving beyond our fears and developing trust that our voices and ideas are valuable.”
What steps can we all take to ensure that more women and girls are in positions of leadership?
“First, it’s on all of us to make sure every young girl has access to a quality education. We also need to give our girls the chance to discover their own voices. So often, we tell women that they should be speaking up, fighting for better conditions, and standing up all on their own to the inequity they face. But if we never give our girls the space to practice using their voices, how will they become women who know when to raise them? It takes practice to gain the confidence to make your voice heard in the world.
At the same time, we need to bring our boys and men into this effort, too. So much could change in a generation if we taught our boys to listen to girls, to see them as their equals. Because the truth is women are just as capable and qualified as men to lead. And if we give our girls the chance to become the women they’re meant to be, we really can set off a ripple effect that transforms the world.”
What is one message you would like to share with Vogue readers?
“The evidence is clear: When girls get an education, amazing things start to happen. Girls who go to school have healthier children, higher salaries, and lower poverty rates. They can even help boost their nation’s economy. When girls learn how to think for themselves, they advocate for others and find solutions to some of our world’s most pressing problems. The future of our world truly is only as bright as our girls. Investing in their education is one of the best things we can do for each and every one of us”.
There are a couple of other articles I want to include before finishing up. In 2022, the BBC spoke with her as she was promoting her latest book, The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times. If you have not read the book then I would recommend that you do so:
“Michelle Obama has admitted she struggles with negative thoughts about her appearance and her "fearful mind", but that women need to "learn to love ourselves as we are".
In her new book, the former US first lady reveals she "hates how I look all the time and no matter what".
But she has found strategies to be kind to herself, she told BBC Breakfast.
She said: "I'm still a work in progress and facing myself each morning with something kind is still a challenge."
She continued: "I try every day to, as I say in the book, greet myself with a positive message.
"And it's really a shame that so many of us, particularly women, have a hard time just looking at our own image and not tearing it apart and figuring out what's wrong.
"I think that's at the core of some of our unease and unhappiness, because if we don't start out by learning to love ourselves as we are, it's hard to pass that on to others.
"So I am working on it every single day."
Michelle Obama returned to the White House to unveil a portrait in September
Mrs Obama, 58, was in the White House with husband Barack between 2009 and 2017.
In the only UK interview for her book The Light We Carry, BBC Breakfast's Naga Munchetty told her: "You are seen as a powerhouse.
"You are seen as this confident woman, this established woman, this smart woman... If you're feeling like this, what hope do the rest of us have?"
Mrs Obama replied: "I think that's the point of sharing it.
"We all have those thoughts, those negative thoughts that we've lived with for years, especially as women and as women of colour, where we don't see ourselves reflected in our society.
"I think we're in a better position, but one of the things I talked about was what it was like growing up, not just as a black woman, but as a tall black woman, before the Serena and Venus [Williams] years, before we had the WNBA [Women's National Basketball Association] and had role models other than gymnasts to look up to.
"It is important for us to see who we can be in order to feel good about ourselves”.
I will end with a 2017 feature from Vox. When President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama left the White House in 2017, they left a legacy, for sure. However, think about their fight for equality and Michelle Obama’s messages. Urging men to be better. The President echoing that. In an age of Donald Trump and his misogyny and evil, the U.S. needs a sane and strong voice in leadership like that of Michelle Obama:
“Michelle Obama is the “new face of feminism.” That’s according to the results of a new poll by PerryUndem Research, in which 47 percent of respondents said she “represents feminism today,” putting her at the top of the list of 14 women including Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, and Beyoncé.
It’s a victory over the judgments of those who, in the early years of the Obama administration, questioned her feminist credentials, scoffing at her focus on gardening and expressing disappointed at the Princeton and Harvard grad’s temporary embrace of the role of “mom-in-chief.”
But Obama has done something even more powerful than gain and maintain the approval of the public. She’s used her post at the White House to strike a very different tone in the conversation about gender equality. She’s shrugged off the scrutiny of her own feminist credentials, asking not, “Am I good enough as a woman?” but, “What do men need to do better?” — and seemingly led the way for her husband, President Obama, to do the same.
Michelle Obama’s feminism was scrutinized from day one — but she never gave into self-doubt or self-flagellation
In response to Jodi Kantor’s 2009 profile of the Obamas’ marriage for the New York Times, a reader wrote in to an online chat, “Can someone explain to me in what ways is the Obama marriage ‘modern’? It seems completely conventional to me, with both Barack and Michelle playing traditional gender roles.” The comment went on to point out that Michelle focused on “fashion, gardening, volunteering, re-decorating, organizing social nights, and appearing on magazine covers,” while Barack focused on more serious issues.
On that topic, Obama simply told Kantor that the equality of a partnership, in her view, “is measured over the scope of the marriage. It’s not just four years or eight years or two.”
But the scrutiny of her feminist credentials continued. In 2013, the Washington Post’s Lonnae O’Neal Parker reported that feminists were “split by her work,” with some still expressing disappointment at the areas that she seemed to place her focus:
“Are fashion and body-toning tips all we can expect from one of the most highly educated First Ladies in history?” asked author Leslie Morgan Steiner in an online column last January. She said she’d “read enough bland dogma on home-grown vegetables and aerobic exercise to last me several lifetimes.”
Steiner contended Obama probably had little leeway. “I’m sure there is immense pressure — from political advisors, the black community, her husband, the watching world — to play her role as First Black Lady on the safe side.”
Feminist discontent with the first lady spiked again last summer at the Democratic National Convention, after she called her daughters “the heart of my heart and the center of my world.” She then repeated her feminist crazy-maker: “You see, at the end of the day, my most important title is still ‘mom-in-chief.’”
“Why does mom-in-chief have to be the most important thing this strong, vibrant woman tells us about herself as she flexes the strange but considerable power of the office of first lady?” Emily Bazelon asked on Slate.com.
The Post pointed out that many minority feminists and writers of color saw things differently. After all, as Parker wrote, “By necessity and by choice, a majority of black women have been working outside the home at least since the census began keeping track of their labor in 1972. There has never been a national effort to keep black women at home, caring sweetly for their children. They have always worked, and their work has never been a separate thing from their mothering.”
But while others debated Obama, she neither became defensive nor changed her priorities in response to her critics. Instead, she seemed to steadily live the way she chose: still focusing on that garden, the anti-obesity initiative, and more: launching “Let Girls Learn,” an initiative aimed at helping adolescent girls attain a quality education, hosting events specifically celebrating African-American girls and women during Black History Month, giving a headline-grabbing, powerful address at the Democratic National Convention and becoming widely regarded as Hillary Clinton’s most influential surrogate. Her condemnation of then-candidate Donald Trump’s commentary about women and daily assaults on the dignity of women grabbed the entire nation’s attention. In the meantime, she took her daughters to Beyoncé concerts and did Carpool Karaoke.
Subtly, though, through all this, she has insisted on being herself and ignoring the question of whether she was living up to anyone else’s feminist ideals. And at a moment when she had reached the highest approval she had earned, she did something powerful: She shifted the focus of the gender equality conversation to men. Her message: “Be better.”
“Be better at everything,” she said in a conversation with Oprah at the United States of Women summit in June 2016. “Be better fathers. Good lord, just being good fathers who love your daughters and are providing a solid example of what it means to be a good man in the world, showing them what it feels like to be loved. That is the greatest gift that the men in my life gave to me.”
She made it clear that she was talking to all men, continuing:
Men can be better husbands, which is — be a part of your family’s life. Do the dishes. Don’t babysit your children. You don’t babysit your own children. Be engaged. Don’t just think going to work and coming home makes you a man. Being a father, being engaged, all that stuff is important. Be a better employer. When you are sitting at a seat of power at a table of any kind and you look around you just see you, it’s just you and a bunch of men around a table, on a golf course, making deals, and you allow that to happen, and you’re OK with that — be better.”
IN THIS PHOTO: President Barack Obama in Paris/PHOTO CREDIT: Chesnot—Getty Images
When it came to gender equality, the president echoed her message to men
Just a couple of months later, President Barack Obama’s echoed Michelle’s sentiments in an essay titled “Why I’m a feminist” for Glamour magazine in August. He didn’t pass judgment on which goals and dreams of women deserved support, or what kinds of women deserved men’s support, but rather explained how he was in a continuous process of self-reflection — often inspired by his wife:
I’ve seen how Michelle has balanced the demands of a busy career and raising a family. Like many working mothers, she worried about the expectations and judgments of how she should handle the trade-offs, knowing that few people would question my choices. And the reality was that when our girls were young, I was often away from home serving in the state legislature, while also juggling my teaching responsibilities as a law professor. I can look back now and see that, while I helped out, it was usually on my schedule and on my terms. The burden disproportionately and unfairly fell on Michelle.
As Michelle might put it, he decided to do better. And he repeated the shift in perspective she had introduced. This wasn’t about just celebrating or affirming women, but insisting that his gender should improve — from changing attitudes to avoiding stereotypes to taking responsibility for equity in relationships:
So we need to break through these limitations. We need to keep changing the attitude that raises our girls to be demure and our boys to be assertive, that criticizes our daughters for speaking out and our sons for shedding a tear. We need to keep changing the attitude that punishes women for their sexuality and rewards men for theirs.
We need to keep changing the attitude that permits the routine harassment of women, whether they’re walking down the street or daring to go online. We need to keep changing the attitude that teaches men to feel threatened by the presence and success of women.
We need to keep changing the attitude that congratulates men for changing a diaper, stigmatizes full-time dads, and penalizes working mothers. We need to keep changing the attitude that values being confident, competitive, and ambitious in the workplace—unless you’re a woman. Then you’re being too bossy, and suddenly the very qualities you thought were necessary for success end up holding you back. ...
It is absolutely men’s responsibility to fight sexism too. And as spouses and partners and boyfriends, we need to work hard and be deliberate about creating truly equal relationships”.
Undoubtable a feminist icon, I wanted to celebrate the wonderful Michelle Obama! The Girls Opportunity Alliance is doing such key and important work around the world. There will be further books and talks from Obama. She will continue to make a difference and strive for equality for all girls and women. A role model for millions, she is someone that I look up to. Maybe she will speak at The Trouble Club one day (let’s hope so!). Until then, go and check out the work and words of…
THE iconic Michelle Obama.