![Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong State Visit To The White House Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong State Visit To The White House](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/barack-obama-feminism-essay.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
This is our president speaking:
…This is an extraordinary time to be a woman. 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.
Well, writing. President Obama wrote an essay for the new issue of Glamour magazine in which he declared himself a feminist and stated that the world his daughters were inheriting was one of opportunity. The article, which appeared online today and will run in Glamour’s September print issue, also touches on the President’s own relationship with masculinity as he grew up without a father and navigated the conflicting world of gender stereotypes: “It is absolutely men’s responsibility to fight sexism too,” he wrote.
Recently the White House hosted the first ever United States of Women summit, during which women convened to discuss everything from STEM to the pay gap to Boko Haram.
Obama writes in Glamour that he and First Lady Michelle Obama have always endeavored to raise their daughters away from the constraints of an unequal society, and that as we inch closer to a historic election, we have the chance to make a statement about what 21st century feminism will look like.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Breaking Down the 2024 Election Calendar
- How Nayib Bukele’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has Transformed El Salvador
- What if Ultra-Processed Foods Aren’t as Bad as You Think?
- How Ukraine Beat Russia in the Battle of the Black Sea
- Long COVID Looks Different in Kids
- How Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Americans’ Health
- What a $129 Frying Pan Says About America’s Eating Habits
- The 32 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2024
Contact us at letters@time.com