{Pittsburgh Post-Gazette} – First Lady Michelle Obama’s recent trip to Liberia, Morocco and Spain as part of the Let Girls Learn initiative is a huge plus for girls’ education.
Let Girls Learn brings together various programs, agencies and the corporate world in an effort to educate the estimated 62 million girls worldwide who do not go to school. Poor education for women depresses global health and economics, resulting in lower productivity, early marriages and higher HIV rates, among other problems.
In Liberia, Mrs. Obama touted U.S.-backed programs for helping women, girls and children. Liberia is the first African country to elect a female president, but it also needs to pool all of its resources to recover from the Ebola scourge. There and in Morocco, Mrs. Obama met with girls for a discussion on the challenges they face. In Spain, she gave a speech highlighting these challenges and encouraged young women to join the fight for girls’ education globally.
Mrs. Obama has encouraged cooperation among young women from different backgrounds, and she established a Snapchat account to keep in touch with girls worldwide while she traveled. Activists for girls’ education have acquired an invaluable ally in Mrs. Obama, who has indicated that her commitment to this cause will continue after she and President Barack Obama leave the White House next year.
