This is SO moving! President Barack Obama has penned the most powerful and thoughtful essay about how his two daughters have helped shape him into such a proud feminist. Keep reading for his poignant message about how he’s so hopeful about the future of women in our country.
President Barack Obama, 55, just keeps proving why he’s so incredible, with a powerful and poignant essay in Glamour magazine about how his daughters Malia, 18, and Sasha, 15, have given him an incredible insight into what women face in this day and age.
“As a result (of his even years in the White House), I’ve been able to spend more time watching my daughters grow up into smart, funny, kind, wonderful young women,” he writes. “That isn’t always easy, either — watching them prepare to leave the nest. But one thing that makes me optimistic for them is that this is an extraordinary time to be a woman. The progress we’ve made in the past 100 years, 50 years, and, yes, even the past eight years has made life significantly better for my daughters than it was for my grandmothers. And I say that not just as president but also as a feminist.” Oh yeah! We’ve got a President who is PROUD to be a feminist. Amen to that!
He notes how he was raised by a single mother and how his grandmother was a role model in his younger days, and how women shaped his life. But it’s watching the challenges that Malia and Sasha face that are truly eye opening. “I’d like to think that I’ve been pretty aware of the unique challenges women face — it’s what has shaped my own feminism. But I also have to admit that when you’re the father of two daughters, you become even more aware of how gender stereotypes pervade our society. You see the subtle and not-so-subtle social cues transmitted through culture. You feel the enormous pressure girls are under to look and behave and even think a certain way,” he astutely notes.
Click here for adorable pics of President Obama and his girls on a fun family vacation
“Michelle and I have raised our daughters to speak up when they see a double standard or feel unfairly judged based on their gender or race — or when they notice that happening to someone else,” Obama writes. “It’s important for them to see role models out in the world who climb to the highest levels of whatever field they choose. And yes, it’s important that their dad is a feminist, because now that’s what they expect of all men.”
He ends the lengthly essay by saying, “That’s what twenty-first century feminism is about: the idea that when everybody is equal, we are all more free.”OMG, can we PLEASE keep this man around for another four years? Darn those term limitation laws.
HollywoodLifers, what do you think of the president’s thoughts on feminism?
