In March, President and First Lady Obama announced the creation of the “Let Girls Learn” initiative – a campaign dedicated to bringing education to the sixty-two million girls around the world who are not in school. Mostly adolescents, these girls either do not have access to primary school or are kept from attending school due to the customs of their culture. According the campaign, research shows that “countries with more girls in secondary school tend to have lower maternal mortality rates, lower infant mortality rates, lower rates of HIV/AIDS, and better child nutrition,” making this cause of upmost importance.
It was announced this Tuesday that the First Lady will be attending the George W. Bush Institute’s Global Women’s Network Summit to discuss “the importance of empowering adolescent girls and ensuring educational opportunities” with former First Lady Laura Bush. The summit will be moderated by a recent graduate of the American University of Afghanistan.
The next step for Mrs. Obama will be a spot on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” where she’ll be discussing the importance of adolescent girls’ education. She will also be introducing her “Reach Higher” campaign – an initiative designed to encourage American students to pursue a secondary education after high school.
Finally, as of now, our First Lady will speak at Global Conversation on the Power of Educating Adolescent Girls, hosted by Glamour magazine. The audience at the event will consist of adolescent girls who will be encouraged to participate in the discussion, which will be focused on the fact that more than sixty-two million girls are not in school. Conversation participants will be taking questions submitted by girls from classrooms all around the world.