Every girl's life matters; should be treated with dignity: Barack Obama

NEW DELHI: "Every girl's life matters", US President Barack Obama said here today as he emphasised on providing safety, respect and dignity to women in the country.

"As a husband and fathers and brothers, we have to step up because every girl's life matters every daughter deserves the same chances as our sons and every woman should be able to go about her day, to walk the street and ride the bus and be safe and be treated with respect an dignity. She deserves that," he said in his address at Siri Fort auditorium.

His comments came against the backdrop of incidents of sexual and violent assaults on women reported from different parts of the country. In a latest case, a woman was allegedly raped by a Uber taxi driver here last month.

"We know from experience that nations are more successful when their women are successful, when girls go to schools. This is one of the most direct measures of whether a nation is going to develop perfectly is how it treats its women," Obama said.

He said when a girl goes to school, it doesn't just open up her young mind. "But it benefits all of us because maybe someday she may start her own business or invent a new technology or cure a disease. When women are able to work, families are healthier and communities are wealthier and entire country is more prosperous," Obama said.

He said if a nation really wants to succeed, it can't simply ignore talents of half of its people--women.