Jenna Bush Hager speaks with IU women

As a girl growing up, Jenna Bush’s female role models weren’t the average girls.

“We have three women in my family, and we always gang up against my dad,” said Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush. “When you have a grandmother like I have, you can’t help but be a real supporter of women.”

Bush Hager spoke Tuesday evening at the Whittenberger Auditorium in the Indiana Memorial Union as the keynote speaker for Women’s History Month.

She spoke about women she has encountered in her global travels, whose stories she said she believes need to be told and the importance of education in solving the world’s most pressing problems.

One of the women Bush Hager covered as a correspondent for the Today Show, Delia Perez, came from the small town of Edcouch, Texas, where she frequently migrated to work in the fields with her family so they could support themselves. Then, a high school teacher inspired Perez to change the path of her life, Bush Hager said.

“His faith in her inspired Delia to do something no one in her family had ever done: She applied to college,” she said. “In the years since Delia attended Yale, at least 50 students from her town have gone to Ivy League schools.”

Lydia, a woman Bush Hager met in South America, had malnourished children, but because she has access to information about nutrition and charitable organizations that can provide important vitamins for her children, Lydia’s family is much healthier than before.

“My personal mission has been to bring these kids to the attention of as many people as possible so that they become more than just statistics,” Bush Hager said.

She also spoke about her own personal experiences as a teacher, which she said were not quite what she had expected growing up pretending to teach her dolls with her mother.

“We used to joke that based on hours alone, we had the best-educated dolls in America,” Bush Hager said.

She said education is the most pressing issue in the world right now because by improving people’s access to education, other social issues will fall into place.

“When you look at all of these issues, like health, malnutrition, nutrition, disease, everything, poverty, everything can be broken, even violence can be broken with education,” she said. “To me, global issues are more important than some of the silly things we worry about here in the United States.”

She also urged audience members to find a way to make a difference. She said college is the time to get involved overseas and in the local community.

“I hope by telling you these stories it will inspire at least one of you to act,” she said. “You have the chance to change people’s lives. Every small act will be an investment worth your while. If there is anything these people I have met have taught me, life is a precious gift.”