First Lady Michelle Obama recently launched a global program called Let Girls Learn.  The goal of this program is to eliminate the educational barriers that exist for 62 million girls around the world.  The program, a collaboration among the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of State, the White House and the Peace Corps, is also teaming up with Japan.  While the First Lady is partnering with Akie Abe (the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe) to promote the cause, she's well aware it will take more than a few countries to make a change for girls’ education.  

Learn more about the Let Girls Learn program here.

The First Lady describes the girls' struggles for education in a recent Wall Street Journal article saying, ‘These girls walk miles each day to school, study for hours each night, and stand strong against those who say they are unworthy of an education. If they are prepared to make those sacrifices, the global community should be able to summon the resources to help them fulfill their promise and the promise of their families, communities and countries.’  By describing the challenges faced by these girls, Mrs. Obama hopes to encourage other countries to become involved with the program.  Already, the U.S. Peace Corps and their Japanese equivalent have begun helping girls go to and stay in school. 

The road, however, may be a long one.  The First Lady knows that attitudes and beliefs will be impactful, stating in her Let Girls Learn event in Tokyo, that the success of the program has to do with ‘whether communities value girls simply for their bodies, for their household labor, their reproductive capacities, or whether they value girls for their minds as well.’  By acknowledging that the problems with education discrimination are not solely economically driven, we can all work to alter our beliefs and make education accessible for boys and girls in developing countries.  Mrs. Obama echoed these thoughts during a keynote speech at the United Nations stating, ‘we cannot talk about quality education for adolescent girls or hope to make meaningful and lasting progress on this issue unless we’re willing to have a much bigger and bolder conversation about how women are viewed and treated in the world today.’ 

The ‘Let Girls Learn’ program is focused on advancing educational equality in Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo and Uganda.  However, the First Lady hopes the initiative will encourage girls in America to value their education and work hard in school, as well.  Perhaps, by understanding the challenges for girls worldwide to gain an education, we may be inspired to take our own educations more seriously and take full advantage of the opportunities that have been afforded to us.