Hope is in the Future For Women’s Rights in Vietnam

Nobody has ever called Barack Obama uncharismatic. During his recent town hall meeting in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, The U.S president subtly and wisely wove in ideas about woman’s rights and other touchy subjects in his responses to questions from his audience. He didn’t preach, nor did he flinch as he delivered his key message: “The evidence is clear — I say this wherever I go around the world — families, communities and countries are more prosperous when girls and women have an equal opportunity to succeed.”

He didn’t take the self-righteous “we know better” attitude or that of “our set of morals and societal rules trump yours. Instead, Obama spoke of his two young daughters who he loves dearly and would never trade for a child of the opposite gender. Let’s not get out of hand and call Vietnamese culture sexist; on his tour of the Jade Emperor Pagoda the President was told that the symbol of enlightenment is often a woman.

Vietnam is definitely behind in regards to societal development and Obama’s three day mission there aimed to shorten that gap. Obama then went on to discuss the important women in his life. His mother, who was a single parent, was the one who had to deal with all of the president’s shenanigans as a kid. Michelle, his brilliant and devoted wife, as well as his two beautiful kids, Malia and Sasha, have become celebrities in their own right. Coming into Vietnam, Obama’s goal was to, in some little way, make a dent in changing sexism and to display America, his family, and himself as examples of what a gender-bias free life could be. The president finished with an impressive beatbox jam, with the Korean rapper Soboi , to finish off what was a successful trip.

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