President Barack Obama told Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit that businesses should promote women and work-life flexibility, on Oct. 5, 2010. Read the full speech by President Obama at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit:
I am just thrilled to be here tonight with some of the most brilliant, accomplished, influential women in this country. As Michelle Obama's husband, I feel very much at home.
I have three tall, good-looking, strong-willed women. That's just on the second floor. Then I've got my mother-in-law on the third floor.
So it's a thrill to be here. I want to thank Ann for that kind -- and brief -- introduction -- and for her extraordinary leadership. And I want to thank all the people who helped to organize this spectacular event.
And I'm especially pleased to see the young people who are here. We are thrilled -- thrilled to have you.
I also see that my friend Warren Buffett is here. I understand that even though he is a man, he has been invited back year after year because he knows that the surest path to success is to surround yourself with brilliant women. He's a smart guy.
I happen to share that belief. And I'm pleased to see some of the extraordinary women in my administration who are also here tonight, because I rely on their wise advice every single day, and I'm tremendously grateful for their service.
But being here isn't just meaningful to me as President. It's also meaningful to me personally. As some of you know, I was raised in part by my grandmother. She just passed away a couple of years ago. When I was born, she got a job as a secretary to help provide for our family. Now, she only had a high school education. She had grown up in a generation where women weren't necessarily encouraged to pursue a college degree, and certainly not after they had gotten married and had had a child. But she had an incredible mind and sound judgment. And so over the years she worked her way up -- without a college degree, just a high school degree -- to become one of the first woman bank vice presidents in the state of Hawaii. And that was an amazing accomplishment, but that position was also her glass ceiling. For nearly two decades, she watched as men no more qualified than she was -- in fact, usually men who she had trained would get promoted up the corporate ladder ahead of her.
Now, I know that if given the chance, she would have run that bank better than anybody. But she never got that opportunity. And she never complained. She hardly ever took a vacation. She just kept getting up and giving her best every single day.
So tonight, I'm inspired to be with so many women who have reached the pinnacles of their professions. That's a credit to all of you and your individual drive and fortitude, because I know you've overcome plenty of obstacles of your own. And while we still have a ways to go, it's also a testament to the progress that we've made as a country -- certainly since my grandmother was a young woman.
The 75 young leaders who are here tonight are another testament to that progress, because as you know, these young women went through a citywide selection process to attend this event. And on their applications, they were asked to list their career aspirations. And I've got a list of what they said. See, we've got "cultural anthropologist." That's a good choice. My mother was an anthropologist, so thumbs up on that. "Classical singer." "U.S. senator." There's some people saying like, "Oh, I don't know." "Professional race car driver." One stated that she intends to become "the next Bill Gates." I don't know why Buffett was skipped over, but --
Another wrote "environmental scientist and work on ways to find new fuel resources." Important. And one -- this is my favorite -- one said, "doctor, lawyer and an engineer." This young lady said, "I know this is ambitious but not impossible."
So when we talk about the theme of this year's conference -- "building a legacy" -- that's exactly what we're talking about. That's what's at stake. That spark. That passion. All those ambitions and aspirations expressed by these young people.
And the question is, what are we doing to nurture that promise? How do we ensure that 10 or 20 or 30 years from now, these young women will be sitting where all of you are sitting tonight, with their own mentees, passing the torch to a next generation? What are we doing to build a dynamic, competitive, opportunity-rich economy so that they have successful lives and careers of their own?
Now, as some of our nation's top business leaders and nonprofit leaders and leaders in so many different fields, the answers to these questions are going to be largely determined by you, because as part of the competitiveness of America's economy, the richness of its cultural life, it's always depended on the innovation and enterprise of American businesses and American institutions and organizations -- on the products you develop and the jobs you create and the growth that you drive.
