Just wanted to say that I love Michelle Obama

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

Did anyone else see her speaking to those girls in Oxford today? She was speaking out about the importance of girls' education, and she even put in a good word about Hillary Clinton.

[Iloveredvelvetcake]

I love Michelle Obama and agree she is a role model. MO has accomplished a lot as a woman within her own right, as someone points out, she was Barack's boss!

Giving up her career to be First Lady seems the only sensible thing (to me) to do. Imagine the media scrutiny if she carried on with whatever role (this point has also been made regarding Duchess of Cambridge). She has also chosen great causes to support as First Lady.

For me the defining success of feminism has been to give women the CHOICE to be whatever and whoever they want to be, and that includes being a SAHM. As long as they feel empowered doing that role, why should anyone be looked down on for their life choices? What's so wrong with being Mom-in-Chief anyway?

I thought Kira Cochrane defined the essence of MO really well with her piece earlier this week:

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/michelle-obama-state-visit-uk

[Tenacity]

I posted the full link of her talk at Oxford University above. The talk was aimed at young women and girls, and I think it is very inspirational.


For those who criticise Michelle Obama or other women, what are you doing to promote and support young girls/women, especially those from poor backgrounds to be the best they can be?

[Tenacity]

Very interesting talk at Oxford University

[travispickles]

With any luck she will go on to become President of the US. Now that would be progress.

[AnnieLobeseder]

Well, it's great if she is using her position to speak to young women about furthering their education and obtain the best for themselves, but I don't see her as a role model. She's the president's wife. So what?

While she might have had a great career once, now she doesn't. She gave it up because of her husband. How is that a good message for our daughters? And we wouldn't ever have heard of her if she weren't married to the president.

Millions of women all over the world have achieved as much on their own as she has.

[TheCatInTheHairnet]

Michelle Obama is, impo, a VERY inspirational woman. And I do really hate seeing comments about how women haven't lived up to their own potential by being "The Wife."

She didn't get married to be The Wife. She had her own career and, for exactly the same reason millions others decide, it became untenable for her to keep that job. I'm a SAHM for a man with a fancy title and, tbh, wtf are you going to do about it?!!!

[Tenacity]

I think Michelle Obama is a fantastic role model for women. It sounds as some are saying that the fact that she is married to the USA President, and is first lady, means that her achievements should be ignored and underplayed.

Before she met Barack Obama, she was already a woman who had strived for more and worked hard to accomplish a lot. She did not need Barack Obama to succeed. Her accomplishments have nothing to do with her husband. What is not to be admired about that?

In a world where women need all the strength they can get, Michelle Obama is right there at the top of the list of inspirational women, especially considering all she has had to overcome, personally and professionally.

Why other women want to put her down says more about them than about her.

[blackcurrants]

Let's be honest, the "First Lady" stuff is patriarchal and horrible.

That said I think she's using the power and influence of the role to do cool, feminist-friendly things. And more power to her.

[flibbertigibbert]

I read an article not long after Barack's inauguration which was very critical of Michelle's decision to stand down from her job when becoming First Lady. Someone argued against the point by saying that the situation is different for black women. They have always had to work, and have never got to do the perfect housewife thing.

Michelle isn't completely taking a back seat, and has taken on her own work - the healthy living campaign for example. Also, IIRC, Sasha and Malia are the youngest children in the White House for decades, which arguably makes her decision more justifiable.

As a young black woman, I find her incredibly inspiring. There is a shortage of role models like her, especially black females.

[jugglingwiththreeshoes]

Back to what Dilys said near beginning of thread -

She didn't just bear his children though, she bore her own - and then did a great job of raising them.

Nothing wrong with our relationships with others (including DH's) being part of what we value as humans, and a central part of our life experience.

Being married to a president, prime-minister or future King is a full-time occupation I'm sure, and a role with the potential to do much good for others and for the world in a variety of ways.

Silly to insist that it's important that Princess Catherine for example have a proper job as fashion buyer for Jigsaw or some such !

[BalloonSlayer]

"To suggest that she was asked to give talks to students because she is wife of a president is a bit like saying that Zara Phillips is a famous equestrian only because she is the daughter of the Princess Royal."

No it isn't. If you wanted to make that analogy work you would have to say that "Zara Phillips is only asked to give high-profile lectures on choosing equestrianism as a career because she is the daughter of the Princess Royal." If that were the case, and you said that, I'd think you probably had a point.

How many talks was she asked to give to students before Obama became president then?

All power to her for making the most of her position to encourage girls of course, but would the girls be as impressed and listen as hard if someone like Xenia from Mumsnet went to speak to them?

[all4u]

I love Mumsnet! Everyone descrying the focus on MO's clothes when she has so much to offer. And she actually did not choose to be doing this but is making the best of it. Plus, like every other leader's wife, she has just witnessed her partner aging about ten years in two - cf Tony Blair going grey. I wish her well. Mind you I feel I must point out that Oxford Uni is in fact unique (ref her talk to the female pupils) - I won a place there as a kid from a mixed inner city Scottish comprehensive in the last century...

[cloudydays]

Maxinemills, she graduated from Princeton and Harvard, worked as a successful lawyer for several years at a prestigious Chicago firm (where, as a previous poster noted, she mentored her future husband), and went on to fulfil the leadership positions I outlined in my previous post, all of which were centred on using her considerable talents for the good of her fellow citizens.

As the partner of a presidential candidate and as First Lady, she may not have an elected role, but she has demonstrated exceptional diplomatic skills and is a brilliant ambassador for her country, as evidenced by responses to her like those we've seen in Ireland and Britain on this trip.

She also comes across as warm, grounded, and a fantastic mother, which either means that she's a pretty fantastic person or she's incredibly media savvy and skilled at projecting a positive image.

Part of what makes all this "inspirational" is that she grew up black, female, and from a working-poor family in a deprived area of inner city Chicago. Any one of those things would have put her at a disadvantage for academic or career success, yet she has accomplished a great deal and done so with grace and no trace of arrogance or bitterness.

[missinglalaland]

I admire her too. She is a fantastic role model. Intelligent, well educated, hard working and caring. The focus on her outfits doesn't bug me too much. I think it is good for people to see that a strong, tall, mature woman can look fantastic. It's just a tiny weight against all the sized-zero models that our daughter are bombarded with.

[Straight2Extremes]

Look at cloudy's post Mazinemills

[Maxinemills]

What does she actually do?

As a mixed race woman, I don't know what she's done & why so many people think she's an inspiration.

[southofthethames]

I think both Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama are good role models - I don't agree with posts that say Michelle Obama is only important/prominent because of who she is married to. She achieved her law degree and career before Barack did - she was HIS professional mentor when he began work! And for many years she held down a demanding legal career while he ...wrote books and wasn't very far along in his political career. Laura Bush (Mrs Dubya) had a postgrad degree too (in library work) but she was never asked to give inspirational talks to any students. Michelle Obama was only invited to talk to students because she happens to be have a successful law career who did well at school and college, as well as the workplace, despite not being born with any privileges. To suggest that she was asked to give talks to students because she is wife of a president is a bit like saying that Zara Phillips is a famous equestrian only because she is the daughter of the Princess Royal.

[BalloonSlayer]

Yes it's a very impressive CV, and she is a good role model of course . . . but but but but . . . the only reason she is there to talk to the girls - rather than someone else - is because of who she is married to.

[suburbophobe]

She and Barack are absolutely inspirational!

You can argue till the cows come home about who should've gotten in this time or last, but I think the right people won for the right time for the world right now.....

[cloudydays]

Associate Commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Chicago.

Executive Director of a non-profit agency offering leadership training for inner-city youth.

Associate Dean of Student Affairs at University of Chicago.

Executive Director of Community Relations at University of Chicago Hospitals.

Member of the Boards of Directors of 6 Chicago-area community, health and education organisations.

"She isn't a leader... She is married to one." WTF?? You don't think the person with this (very, very abbreviated) C.V. is qualified to serve as an example to young women who envision themselves as leaders?

[snowmama]

I think she us a fab role model, and whilst her role a president wife gives her a platform, actually alot of her role model attributes are about she achieved before that and that for me is the inspirational message.

I also think Hilary Clinton is a fab role model for different reasons....it is not mutuallly exclusive..

[ElephantsAndMiasmas]

for now, BalloonSlayer

[BalloonSlayer]

"Our job as women is to envision ourselves as leaders and be ready to battle."

But she isn't a leader at the moment. She is married to one.

[noddyholder]

I like her but I LOVE hilary