Michelle Obama launches female empowerment campaign

Former first lady Michelle Obama has launched the “Get Her There” campaign with two prominent stakeholders to empower and educate adolescent girls, PEOPLE reports. 

The campaign is a collaboration of Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clooney Foundation for Justice. On Tuesday, Obama joined Melinda French Gates and Amal Clooney in New York City to launch the campaign.

The goal of “Get Her There,” according to Obama.org, is to help adolescent girls around the world “achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities, and countries.”

According to PEOPLE, the trio spoke during a panel about the goal of the project and noted that millions of girls worldwide are forced to marry before the age of 18, which typically prompts them to drop out of school.

Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney, unpacked how girls who are “pushed into child marriage” fail to reach their full potential. She also noted how many of them “could’ve gone on to cure cancer or lead a country.”

“When we launched the Girls Opportunity Alliance four years ago today, we knew the key to advancing our work was an alliance of stakeholders coming together to support girls completing their education,” said Obama in a statement via Obama.org.

“We created the ‘Get Her There’ campaign to inspire everyone to get involved in our work — because we know that our entire world benefits when girls are educated and empowered,” Obama said in announcing the collaboration, PEOPLE reported. “That’s why I am so grateful that Melinda and Amal — two of the world’s most compelling and influential leaders for gender equity — are teaming up with the Girls Opportunity Alliance to help remove the barriers that stand in the way of every girl getting the opportunities she deserves.”

Continued Obama, “The barriers these girls face are very real, but I couldn’t be more hopeful about what’s ahead in our work together to support them.”  

During Tuesday’s panel discussion, girls from around the world shared stories about how their lives were changed after having the opportunity to access quality education. “These girls are showing us where ‘there’ is,” Obama said, noting the “there” in “Get Her There” simply means “anywhere a girl can dream.”

“Education made the difference in my life,” Obama added. “It has given me the tools to envision where ‘there’ [is for me].”

Through their respective organizations, Obama, Gates and Clooney will also challenge discriminatory laws through the courts, PEOPLE reported.

“The barriers our girls face today are steep and are leaving millions of girls out of school. Our goal is to help clear away all that’s standing in the way of girls achieving their dreams. While that’s too big of a challenge for any one of us to tackle alone, it’s something I know can be accomplished if we all work together,” said Obama on Obama.org.

Through the Girls Opportunity Alliance — an Obama Foundation program — more than 4,000 leaders and community-based organizations are working to support adolescent girls worldwide, according to Obama.org.

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