While the Obama administration has tried to shield the First Daughters from unwanted media attention, carefully released snapshots of the young women suggest social activism may run in their blood. The president credited his daughters with helping him change his position on marriage equality. "I have to confess my children generally had an impact on me," he said at a town hall in London (via The Huffington Post). So what's next for these political darlings?
The girls have already gotten a taste for foreign affairs. They accompanied their father on his historic trip to Cuba in March 2016. Malia also sat in on her dad's meeting with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist who was shot and nearly killed just for going to school. Taking a stand for the rights of women across the globe could be a good turn for the young ladies.
Or maybe the sisters will focus on social stigmas, such as the pressures females face to adhere to narrow beauty standards. In a March 2016 interview with Time magazine, the president discussed his daughters coming to grips with societal expectations. "That pressure I think [has] historically always been harder on African American women than just about any other women," he said. "But it's part and parcel of a broader way in which we socialize and press women to constantly doubt themselves or define themselves in terms of a certain appearanceā¦Malia'll talk about black girl's hairā¦And she's pretty opinionated about the fact that it costs a lot, it takes a long time, that sometimes girls can be just as tough on each other about how they're supposed to look."
The girls might have a new address, but it looks like they are using their celebrity status to positively propel their futures. And we're excited to see what the future has in store.