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  • The First Lady: Oh, well. I'm done.

  • I don't have to do anything else.

  • (laughter)

  • Audience Member: We love you!

  • The First Lady: Oh, my goodness. I love you all.

  • This is an exciting, exciting day -- exciting.

  • We had a fabulous morning at the State Department.

  • And I hope you all are having just a lot of

  • fun here this evening.

  • We are just honored and delighted to have you here to

  • celebrate International Women's Day and Women's History Month

  • here at the White House. Yes.

  • (applause)

  • I have to start by thanking Aissatou for that beautiful,

  • beautiful introduction and for all her hard work.

  • C'est très bien. Merci.

  • (laughter)

  • We have to give her another round of applause.

  • (applause)

  • And also Shannon for her inspiring way of being,

  • and for introducing our choir and for her

  • extraordinary achievements.

  • So let's give her a round of applause as well.

  • (applause)

  • And I got to hear a little bit of that fabulous choir,

  • the Washington Performing Arts Society.

  • (applause)

  • We have to thank them for that inspirational

  • performance as well.

  • And I know that we have so many wonderful people here.

  • We have some members of Congress who are here -- I see some faces

  • scattered around.

  • And I want to thank all of you for all the work that you do,

  • the leadership that you provide, the time that you have taken out

  • in your lives to fight for the issues that mean so much,

  • not just for women and girls here in this country but around

  • the world.

  • We are proud of you.

  • I am proud of you.

  • Thank you so much.

  • And finally, I want to recognize all of the extraordinary women

  • who are gathered here tonight, because there are so many

  • sprinkled about, including our wonderful Women of Courage Award

  • recipients, all of whom I got to spend time with earlier today.

  • (applause)

  • These are women who work tirelessly, all of you,

  • every day, to make not just countries more fair,

  • more equal and more free, but often many of these women risk

  • themselves and their families to get this work done.

  • We have young women here like Shannon and Aissatou who are

  • serving as peacemakers and ambassadors and community

  • leaders here in America and around the world.

  • And I see so many activists and advocates,

  • pioneers who have devoted their careers to improving

  • the lives of women.

  • We are celebrating you all today.

  • And tonight, I just want to say to all of you that your

  • journeys, that your achievements and your very presence in this

  • room are a perfect illustration of the progress that we've made

  • since this day was first celebrated 100 years ago.

  • We've come a long way, ladies!

  • (applause)

  • And we are celebrating those accomplishments here in America.

  • Women are now the majority of graduates

  • of colleges and universities.

  • We make up nearly half of America's workforce.

  • We got to get paid more for it.

  • (applause)

  • But we do.

  • Women are thriving in every sector of our society.

  • We are leading businesses.

  • We're serving at the highest levels of government and the

  • armed forces.

  • We're breaking barriers and succeeding in careers that our

  • mothers and grandmothers never could have imagined.

  • And as more opportunities have become open to women,

  • that hasn't just enriched our own lives.

  • As we all know, it's enriched the life of this nation.

  • And that's one of the reasons why we have to do this,

  • because we need to remind ourselves and our country

  • that we're here because of us.

  • Because we as a nation benefit from every girl whose potential

  • is fulfilled; from every woman whose talent is tapped.

  • We benefit as a nation.

  • We as a nation benefit from their intelligence,

  • from their hard work, from their creativity,

  • from their leadership.

  • And that's not just true here in America.

  • Time and again, we have seen that countries across the globe

  • are more prosperous, they're more peaceful when women are

  • more equal and have the rights and opportunities they deserve.

  • (applause)

  • And that is why women and girls are a core focus of America's

  • engagement with the world, including our diplomatic

  • and development work, and our work to prevent

  • and respond to conflict.

  • And that's why here at home we continue our work to close the

  • pay gap once and for all, to get that done.

  • That's why we continue our work here at home to bring women into

  • fields like math and science.

  • Keep studying your math.

  • (laughter)

  • We're still under-represented.

  • So we still have work to do.

  • We continue our work to promote entrepreneurship and workplace

  • flexibility so that women can contribute as fully as possible

  • to our economy.

  • And while we've made some important strides,

  • all of you in this room know better than anyone else that

  • this work is far from finished.

  • We have so, so much more to do.

  • You all know better than just about anyone that change is

  • hard, and change is slow.

  • Many of you might not win the battles you're fighting or see

  • the progress you're fighting for in your lifetimes.

  • You know that.

  • But I'm thinking tonight of a quote from the author Alice

  • Walker, who once wrote, "So our mothers and grandmothers have

  • more often than not anonymously handed on the creative spark,

  • the seed of the flower they themselves never hoped to see."

  • And that is why all of you keep on fighting.

  • That's why all of you keep on leading and working toward a

  • better day for all of us.

  • You do it so that our daughters and granddaughters and,

  • just as importantly, our sons and grandsons can have the

  • opportunities that many of us only dreamed of.

  • You do it because you know that your work could be the spark or

  • that seed for the dreams and aspirations of girls like

  • Aissatou and Shannon generations from now.

  • This is why we do this work.

  • We do it for you. We do it for you.

  • So I want to close tonight by simply saying thank you.

  • This is a small -- very small way for me, for my husband,

  • for this administration to let you know just how proud we are

  • of all that you do for women and girls.

  • Our work is so far from done.

  • But 100 years ago, we would have never imagined that we'd be

  • standing here in the East Room of the White House --

  • (laughter)

  • -- celebrating this day with this administration.

  • So we have reason to celebrate.

  • (applause)

  • So thank you all for your commitment.

  • Thank you for your passion.

  • I am so honored to have you here tonight.

  • Enjoy.

  • Eat.

  • Drink.

  • Dance.

  • I am only standing on your shoulders.

  • So please enjoy, and God bless.

  • We have more work to do.

  • Thanks so much.

  • (applause)

The First Lady: Oh, well. I'm done.

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