Obama Could Have Said More About Women

2 years ago

0 Comments Say Something »

Text Size

Woman Up Editor

Obama's speech, though historic and resplendent with images, was a little weak on programs to support women's equality for his mostly Muslim audience.

After lightly touching on the subject of head scarves early in his oration ("The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it"), the President only came back to women's rights near the end of his 57-minute tour de force:

"I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well-educated are far more likely to be prosperous."

President Obama contrasted the fact that women hold leadership posts in Middle and Far Eastern countries like Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, while "the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life," and then continued:

"I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. That is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams."

Micro-financing and expanded literacy, that's it. In my mind he could have said more. How about a word or two in support of independent women who belong to neither father nor husband and are free to reach for their own dreams and find their own potential?

Filed Under: Barack Obama, Woman Up

Tagged: obama, obama speech, ObamaSpeech, women

Our New Approach to Comments

In an effort to encourage the same level of civil dialogue among Politics Daily’s readers that we expect of our writers – a “civilogue,” to use the term coined by PD’s Jeffrey Weiss – we are requiring commenters to use their AOL or AIM screen names to submit a comment, and we are reading all comments before publishing them. Personal attacks (on writers, other readers, Nancy Pelosi, George W. Bush, or anyone at all) and comments that are not productive additions to the conversation will not be published, period, to make room for a discussion among those with ideas to kick around. Please read our Help and Feedback section for more info.