Lenny – Michelle Obama
“So often when people talk about the issue of global girls’ education, they dive right into the policy weeds. They talk about the numbers — how 62 million girls worldwide aren’t in school right now. They talk about the barriers girls face to getting an education — how their families can’t afford the school fees; or the nearest school is miles away, and walking there each day means risking assault and kidnapping; or there is a school nearby, but it doesn’t have adequate bathrooms for girls, so they have to stay home when they have their periods, and they sometimes fall behind and wind up dropping out. And all of this is true — but it also misses the fundamental point that this issue isn’t just about access to resources like scholarships, transportation, and school bathrooms. It’s also very much about attitudes and beliefs: the belief that girls should be valued for their bodies, not their minds; the belief that girls simply aren’t worthy of an education, and their best chance in life is to be married off when they’re barely even teenagers and start having children of their own.”(more)