U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama arrived at the Hamad Airport in Doha, Qatar, on Monday for several meetings and speeches. She will visit the al-Udeid air base together with the comedian Conan O’Brien. She is also scheduled to give a speech Wednesday on her “Let Girls Learn” initiative at the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education, sponsored by the Qatar Foundation, the state-run Qatar News Agency reported, without elaborating.
Ahead of her speech, The Atlantic published an article online Monday by Obama, in which she said cultures, as well as funding, needed to be addressed to ensure girls are educated.
“Scholarships, bathrooms and safe transportation will only go so far if societies still view menstruation as shameful and shun menstruating girls,” Obama wrote.
“Or if they fail to punish rapists and reject survivors of rape as ‘damaged goods.'”
From Qatar, Obama will travel to Jordan and visit a school supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development with Queen Rania. She also plans to visit Petra, an ancient city hewn from rose-colored rock that’s a UNESCO World Heritage site.
