One of my very favorite parts of Women’s Annex is the Michelle Obama WebTV channel. It features dozens of videos of my favorite female empowerment icon, First Lady Michelle Obama. Her inspirational speeches and appearances offer sage advice on how to empower women around the globe. Mrs. Obama is an inspirational figure for many women around the globe, including Afghan women.
My favorite video on the new channel is Mrs. Obama’s speech on last year’s 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day. She spoke eloquently about the potential of women in America and around the world. She said, “We as a nation benefit from every girl whose potential is fulfilled, from every woman whose talent is tapped we benefit as a nation. We as a nation benefit from their intelligence, from their hard work, from their creativity, from their leadership. And that’s not just true here in America. Time and again, we’ve seen that countries across the globe are more prosperous, they’re more peaceful when women are equal and have the rights and opportunities they deserve.”
I believe this is absolutely true. Learning how to empower women starts from recognizing that women provide valuable contributions, both locally and internationally. Afgan women can impact not only their home country, but the entire world. Afgan women, like others around the globe, are bright and intelligent, but without access to education or resources, they may not be able to realize their full potential. The education of women in Afghanistan will help them bring out their true talents.
This is why the Afghan Development Project is so critical for women in Afghanistan. Connecting Afgan women to the world via social media and filmmaking gives them a chance to express their interests and desires. Giving them access to this kind of technological education gives them the ability to explore future careers in many different fields - from software development to politics. As Mrs. Obama says, “[A]s more opportunities have become open to women, that hasn’t just enriched our own lives. As we all know, it’s enriched the life of this nation. And that’s one of the reasons why we have to do this, because we need to remind ourselves and our country that we’re here because of [wpmen].” This doesn’t just apply to the United States - it applies to the women in Afghanistan and other countries too.
