In Conversation With Oprah, Michelle Obama Tells Men To ‘Be Better’

“So I want to know, what are those days when you just say, mmm, mmm, mmm – look at me in the White House”, Winfrey asked Obama at the White House’s United State of Women Summit in Washington.

“I had had Malia, Barack was in the U.S. Senate, so I was basically mothering part time on my own, having, I had a full-time job”, said Obama, recounting the story of negotiating a job as vice president of community outreach for the University of Chicago Hospital. “Be better fathers. Good lord, just being good fathers who love your daughters and are providing a solid example of what it means to be a good man in the world, showing them what it feels like to be loved”.

“I tell my mentees, my daughters, is that our first job in life as women is to get to know ourselves”. Given that, in another speech at the event, President Obama proudly called himself a feminist, it’s hard not to agree. Don’t babysit your children. And all the while, the First Lady dropped more than a few choice quotes of her own-quotes we’re sure you’ll be seeing on Pinterest boards and in Etsy shops in the near future. As young girls begin to know themselves, growing into mature young ladies, friends may come and go, and people may come in and out of your life, but the real ones will always be there to lift you up, and you’ll learn who those people are along the way.

“Be a better employer”. “Look, I told people this from the very start, when I – started running – Barack Obama is exactly who he says he is”.

Obama does not advocate, however, for women to be happy with their status in 2016 America, warning young women who think that equal rights have already been achieved. “So my strategy – and I’ve always been like this”. I’m not trying to minimize the despicable evil that is inherent in the terror of physical, sexual or emotional abuse of women at the hands of the men in their lives. “And you get a auto!” moment, Oprah yelled: “We are going shopping!” And then let that speak for itself. You can’t be reading that stuff.

“The best revenge is success”.

They do say you are the company you keep. If you don’t have a supportive family that can do that for you, “you gotta find those people because they’re out there”. That’s like just letting somebody walk up and slap you.

The First Lady added that our fight for gender equality will never be fully finished.

She said being first lady “is just a portion of a bigger journey”. We can never be complacent and think that we’ve arrived now as women.

“As we all know, everyone needs a place of safety, everyone”, she said.

Towards the end of the discussion, Winfrey thanked Obama for her service and how she’s carried herself throughout the eight years her and the president have been in office. No one gets to “have it all”, she said; instead, people compromise – and if you know who you are, it’s easier to do what you want.