And on the eve of Mother’s Day, Mrs. Obama looked at the kidnapping through the eyes of a woman with two children of her own, Malia, 15, and Sasha, age 12.
"What happened in Nigeria was not an isolated incident. It's a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions,” she said. She spoke for her husband in his weekly broadcast to the nation.
Mrs. Obama said the world is the loser when girls are denied their rights, whether it is the United States or the developing world.
"I hope that any young people in America who take school for granted – any young people who are slacking off or thinking of dropping out – I hope they will learn the story of these girls and recommit themselves to their education.
"These girls embody the best hope for the future of our world...and we are committed to standing up for them not just in times of tragedy or crisis, but for the long haul.”
Mrs. Obama said the Muslim fanatics who took the girls, Boko Haram militants, are trying to “snuff out the aspirations of young girls.”
No progress was reported this weekend on the search for more than 200 girls kidnapped in the past two weeks.
Opinion
This is a cause Mrs. Obama was made to champion: full rights for women and the end of their being second-class citizens, even slaves.
Women have made huge strides in recent years getting the rights they should have been born with. They make up a majority of the workforce in the US.
Hanna Rosin, in her book, “The End of Men,” wrote in 2010 that men had lost their grip on power.
Certainly, industry brought more women into workforce because they would work for less, but once they had their foot in the door it was too late to close it.
Women even can serve in combat in some armies. They have demonstrated time and time again that they can rule countries. They may not be able to do much better but it is hard to see how they could do worse.
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