REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE  
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What Sasha and Malia Obama Will Mean for the World's Girls

Even if they are a world away and their lives are different, African and Latin girls will see a part of themselves in the Obama daughters.
January 19, 2009  |  
 
 
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As our nation prepares for the momentous inauguration of our first African American president, the rest of the world is watching with much anticipation as well.

There is little precedent for the enormous interest this U.S. election generated overseas, and the celebrations from Kenya to India to Senegal when Barack Obama was elected were truly amazing.

Clearly, not all of them were celebrating based on the significance of the event to just African Americans.

While the election may have confirmed the best impressions that people worldwide have about meritocracy and democracy in our country, it still does not explain all the jubilation.

Instead, I believe much of the world is simply elated that America will soon have a president who looks something like them; that it's possible for someone who looks like them to occupy the most powerful political position in the world.

Amid all that, I've been thinking about little girls in the developing world. What might it mean for them to see Sasha and Malia growing up in the White House?

I have a deeply personal reason for having this focus on the next first family.

Princess Aura Restricted

As a cocoa-complexioned girl who grew up in ethnically diverse southern Arizona, I never imagined anyone who looked like me would have sleepovers in the Lincoln bedroom. It was never said out loud, but always understood, that perhaps someday a woman would be in the White House, but not a president (with a family) of color. The princess-like aura of presidents' daughters was then also limited by race. No longer.

We won't see the Obama daughters in the media spotlight, nor should we, but we'll all know they're settling in, thriving and playing with their new hypo-allergenic puppy. The hope their father symbolizes for what is possible to so many people worldwide just might ripple from these two girls to children, especially girls, around the world.

In my travels from Afghanistan to Nicaragua to Zimbabwe, I find that four words too often sum up the existence of female children: "I'm just a girl."

And yet, girls everywhere are our best hope for a prosperous, safe and stable world. When their lives improve, the entire community benefits.

For many, being a girl means they must work in the fields while their brothers attend school. But a single extra year of primary school increases a girl's eventual wages by more than 10 percent, and a year of secondary school increases it by up to 25 percent. When those wages stay in her hands as a mother, her children are healthier and better educated. A study in Brazil found that a child's chance of surviving increases by 20 percent when his or her mother has her own income.

Producing Food, Eating Less

Being a girl in many countries means that she must eat last and least after the men have finished their meal. This is despite the fact that girls and women produce most of the food in the household: Rural women alone produce half of the world's food, and up to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.


Ritu Sharma is co-founder and president of Women Thrive Worldwide, which advocates for international assistance and trade policies that prioritize the needs of women and girls worldwide.
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Comments are closed-

Well said!
Posted by: kathiparker on Jan 19, 2009 3:21 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm also hoping that we now have a man in the White House who will see what reproductive freedom of choice means, through his daughters' eyes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Well said! Posted by: tony12000

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Between these two attractive lively young women and their well-spoken
Posted by: thekidde on Jan 20, 2009 6:12 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
educated mother, perhaps women in America will finally be seen as something other than the right wings' baby machines, cooks and second class citizens with rights of choice, career and equal protection (and wages) under the law.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]


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If those two are treated like "royalty" for 4 or even 8 years,
Posted by: Jennifer Bedingfield on Jan 21, 2009 7:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
they'll get used to it just like Chelsea Clinton and Dubya's daughters. Otherwise, it might get interesting. If they were teenagers by now, they would have a better chance of telling their dad to snap out of pandering to the right and give higher priority to liberals and moderates.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]


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How do starving kids identify with Sidwell Friends girls?
Posted by: tony12000 on Jan 24, 2009 6:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't buy this article...it takes a stretch to see oneself in the Obama family. I'm a black professional, and frankly, his experiences are not mine. When I was in law school, I never tried as hard as he obviously did to make white people feel comfortable in their desire to protect the corporate class in america and deny the existence of racism. "We" are privileged blacks. The myth that poor blacks can benefit by merely staring into our lives is ridiculous.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

Alternet Comments:

Comments are closed-

Well said!
Posted by: kathiparker on Jan 19, 2009 3:21 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I'm also hoping that we now have a man in the White House who will see what reproductive freedom of choice means, through his daughters' eyes.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

» RE: Well said! Posted by: tony12000

Comments are closed-

Between these two attractive lively young women and their well-spoken
Posted by: thekidde on Jan 20, 2009 6:12 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
educated mother, perhaps women in America will finally be seen as something other than the right wings' baby machines, cooks and second class citizens with rights of choice, career and equal protection (and wages) under the law.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]


Comments are closed-

If those two are treated like "royalty" for 4 or even 8 years,
Posted by: Jennifer Bedingfield on Jan 21, 2009 7:42 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
they'll get used to it just like Chelsea Clinton and Dubya's daughters. Otherwise, it might get interesting. If they were teenagers by now, they would have a better chance of telling their dad to snap out of pandering to the right and give higher priority to liberals and moderates.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]


Comments are closed-

How do starving kids identify with Sidwell Friends girls?
Posted by: tony12000 on Jan 24, 2009 6:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
I don't buy this article...it takes a stretch to see oneself in the Obama family. I'm a black professional, and frankly, his experiences are not mine. When I was in law school, I never tried as hard as he obviously did to make white people feel comfortable in their desire to protect the corporate class in america and deny the existence of racism. "We" are privileged blacks. The myth that poor blacks can benefit by merely staring into our lives is ridiculous.

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

 
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