Barack Obama is fed up with men calling the shots in politics.
The 44th President of the United States spoke at a Town Hall in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Wednesday, and explained why he thinks women should play a bigger role in creating public policies.
“Women in particular, by the way, I want you to get more involved,” he said. “Because men have been getting on my nerves lately. I mean, every day I read the newspaper and I just think, ‘Brothers, what’s wrong with you guys? What’s wrong with us?’ I mean, we’re violent. We’re bullying. You know, just not handling our business.”
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Obama may have been referring to the wave of sexual misconduct cases in Hollywood and beyond, or President Donald Trump’s views on womens’ issues like abortion, but he did not specify. “I think empowering more women on the continent, that right away is going to I think lead to some better policies,” he added.
A young woman who is attempting to and progressively breaking through the male-dominated U.S. congress is New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who won her district’s Congressional primary election on June 26. She has advocated for other female candidates like herself, including Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Cynthia Nixon, who is running for Governor of New York.
Obama has not publicly endorsed these candidates. However, he did endorse Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
On Facebook, Obama shared that he was visiting South Africa with the Obama Foundation to deliver a speech in front of 200 young leaders to honor the 100th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth. “I was proud to visit sub-Saharan Africa more times than any other sitting President, and I’ll return this week to visit Kenya and South Africa,” he wrote.
You can watch his Town Hall speech in its entirety here:
From: ELLE US
