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SXSW Keynote: Michelle Obama - 2016 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival

Source: Neilson Barnard / Getty

Like her husband President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama knows a lot about haters.

In a recent talk she gave in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mrs. Obama discussed how she continues to overcome those who come for her, especially whose who believe that because she is female, she is less than.

Repping her “Let Girls Learn” program, FLOTUS talked about her past and previous challenges being accepted as an intellectual equal due to sexism, especially when she was younger. She shared that her teachers “would call on the boys instead of the girls, even though the girls had better grades,” and would ask her brother about his career ambitions, meanwhile asking her what kind of man she wanted to marry, the Huffington Post noted

And this treatment didn’t necessarily change over time.

“As I got older, I found that men would whistle at me or make comments about how I looked as I walked down the street as if my body were their property, as if I were an object to be commented on instead of a full human being with thoughts and feelings of my own,” Mrs. Obama said.

However, she was clear, that the first step in addressing these issues is looking within. “I decided not to listen to the voices of those who doubted or dismissed me. Instead, I decided to listen to my own voice,” she said.

Word.

Launched in November 2015, FLOTUS’ “Let Girls Learn” is a global initiative to help expand education to the 62 million girls worldwide who are not in school and to strengthen efforts to help those in school, stay there and excel.

FLOTUS and her family have had a busy schedule as of late. They wrapped up a historic trip to Cuba, the first in almost 90 years that a siting American president has visited the socialist Caribbean island.

RELATED LINKS: 

Michelle Obama Makes A Surprising Choice At The Cuba State Dinner

LADIES FIRST: Girl-Powered Panel Featuring Michelle Obama Inspires Us All To Be Great

Haters Gon’ Hate: People Are Mad About Sasha And Malia Obama’s $20k State Dinner Dresses

#BlackGirlMagic: Michelle Obama On Overcoming Her Sexist Haters  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com