BBC 100 Women Documentary On Child Marriage

Michelle Obama is part of the BBC 100 Women ’12 Million Girls’ documentary to end child marriage.

Michelle Obama is on a mission to put an end to child marriage in Africa. The ex-US first lady recently visited Malawi teaming up with other humanitarians Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates, alongside BBC Gender and Identity correspondent Megha Mohan and director Yousef Eldin, to meet the girls at risk from the global issue of child marriage, and some of the grassroots organizations and individuals trying to stop it.

The visit follows a collaborative effort launched in 2022 by The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, the Gates Foundation, and the Clooney Foundation for Justice to end child marriage.

Michelle Obama, attorney, author, and one of the BBC 100 Women for 2023 says: “If we let one thing slip, it all just starts to unravel. In the United States, we’re dealing with a rollback in reproductive rights, things that people thought they could take for granted… And a lot of it is because of the devaluation of women, and the belief that women don’t have choice and power over their own being. That’s what’s happening here.”

Ulanda Mtamba, Malawi’s country director for AGE Africa (Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa) and one of the BBC 100 Women for 2023 says: “We believe that when we educate just one girl, that one girl can be able to change her community and her society. By educating a girl we’d be able to break the cycle of poverty because this girl, be assured, will be able to transform her community, educate more girls, and be a role model.”

Amal Clooney, human rights lawyer and one of the BBC 100 Women for 2023 says: “What’s the point of having a beautiful constitution that protects girls from child marriage if the girls who are the victims of this don’t know about it? So, we formed a network of mobile legal aid clinics that go out in a community and tell girls these are your rights, and if you need a lawyer for free to protect you, that’s what we are here to provide.”

This documentary titled ’12 Million Girls’ is part of the work done by the BBC 100 Women to highlight the consequences of child marriage and the work being done to prevent it.

Watch the video below