President Barack Obama is a proud feminist.
In June, during the White House’s United State of Women summit, the president declared, “This is what a feminist looks like,” while discussing his administration’s dedication to gender equality.
Now, in a passionate essay for Glamour Magazine‘s September issue, Obama is calling on men of all ages to declare themselves feminists too.
“This is an extraordinary time to be a woman,” Obama wrote in the essay, published online Thursday. “The progress we’ve made in the past 100 years, 50 years, and, yes, even the past eight years has made life significantly better for my daughters than it was for my grandmothers.
“And I say that not just as President but also as a feminist.”
The deeply personal essay discusses the “unique challenges” women face in both the workplace and society, and highlights the president’s personal relationships with the women in his life – including wife Michelle, his daughters Sasha and Malia and his mother and grandmother, who raised him.
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“The most important people in my life have always been women,” he wrote. “I watched as my grandmother, who helped raise me, worked her way up at a bank only to hit a glass ceiling. I’ve seen how Michelle has balanced the demands of a busy career and raising a family. Like many working mothers, she worried about the expectations and judgments of how she should handle the trade-offs, knowing that few people would question my choices.”
Obama also touched on how his daughters have changed his view of feminism, noting that as a father he too felt the “enormous pressure” girls fall under to look and behave in certain ways.
Malia, the eldest Obama daughter, recently made headlines for dancing on stage at Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago. The Daily Mail garnered controversy for their headline, which described the 18-year-old as “twerking and grinding” with friends while wearing a “midriff-baring top.”
“Michelle and I have raised our daughters to speak up when they see a double standard or feel unfairly judged based on their gender or race—or when they notice that happening to someone else,” Obama wrote.
“And yes, it’s important that their dad is a feminist, because now that’s what they expect of all men.”
The essay celebrates the momentum women have made in the workplace and society as a whole – including a shout out to Hillary Clinton for being the first woman to be nominated for president by a major U.S. political party (Obama endorsed Clinton for president last week during the Democratic National Convention).
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But Obama stresses that younger generations, especially men, need to continue to strive for change.
“We need to keep changing the attitude that raises our girls to be demure and our boys to be assertive, that criticizes our daughters for speaking out and our sons for shedding a tear,” he wrote.
“We need to keep changing the attitude that permits the routine harassment of women, whether they’re walking down the street or daring to go online. We need to keep changing the attitude that teaches men to feel threatened by the presence and success of women.”
The essay was published on Obama’s 55th birthday.
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