FLOTUS tells men to ‘be better’

Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey discussed women’s rights on Tuesday making sure to include men in the conversation.

By Bronte Price, PoliticKING


At Tuesday’s United State of Women Summit, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey discussed the state of feminism and women’s rights in the United States and around the world. They also emphasized the importance of men’s roles in gender equality. Winfrey referenced President Barack Obama’s speech at the summit where he told the crowd “I may be a little grayer than I was eight years ago, but this is what a feminist looks like.”

FLOTUS said that men should “be better” if they want to help women achieve gender equality. “Be better at everything,” she continued. “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.”

Michelle Obama told Winfrey that it is sad that her experience of never being physically abused by a man is a “rare reality.” She said that stopping violence against women is something men “can be better at.”

“Being better” applies to all men, according to FLOTUS.

She added that, “People won’t remember what other people say about you, but they will remember what you do.” Obama told Winfrey. “So my strategy — and I’ve always been like this. When a teacher would come and tell me that I couldn’t do something, I would get so much satisfaction proving them wrong. I’d be like, OK, all right, oh, you don’t think I’m going to do X, Y and Z, well, I’m going to be the best X, Y, Z you can imagine.”

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