Speech by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson at a special event for the HeForShe campaign, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 20 September 2014
I am reaching out to you because I need your help.We want to end gender inequality—and to do that we need everyone to be involved.
This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure it is tangible.
Emma Watson Speech: Gender Equality
I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”
I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called “bossy, ” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but the boys were not.
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I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn’t assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.
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And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is important but the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few have been.
In 1995, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today.
But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?
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Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.
I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less “macho”—in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49 years of age; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that that they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
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If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.
Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.
If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are—we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.
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I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It’s a good question and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better.
And having seen what I’ve seen—and given the chance—I feel it is my duty to say something. English Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men and women to do nothing.”
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In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly—if not me, who, if not now, when. If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those words might be helpful.
Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able to receive a secondary education.
We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, to be the he for she. And to ask yourself if not me, who? If not now, when?On Saturday, Emma Watson gave this speech about feminism at the United Nations Headquarters, and let me tell you, she got me thinking a lot about the connection between climate change and women’s rights.
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I’m not going to gush over Watson’s heartfelt delivery, or her seemingly genuine candor, or her eloquence, not to diminish any of those things. I readily admit that I initially scoffed at the idea of Watson addressing the U.N. on gender equality — was [insert name of young, pretty white actress of the moment here] busy? — but when more and more women whose opinions I respect started sharing the link to her speech, I thought, “OK, Hermione, I’ll bite.”
And then I felt like a cynical bitch (I am who I am)! Because, while she didn’t say anything truly revolutionary, I really thought she spoke compellingly about something that seems very obvious but isn’t talked about nearly as much as it should be: That it’s going to be very hard for women to attain equal political, economical, and social rights without the support of men. Watson, a new ambassador for U.N. Women, was speaking to promote the new U.N. campaign, HeforShe.
To say that women can’t accomplish great things without men — but it’s harder to get things done if literally half the world kind of lurks around idly and fails to get actively involved in effecting change. What kinds of things have to be changed, anyway? Oh, gee, I don’t know. Giving women a voice in their healthcare decisions, ensuring that girls have equal access to education, ending wage discrimination — just for starters!
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At the exact same time that Watson was addressing U.N. delegates, hundreds of thousands of people were marching literally right outside the building to bring attention to another little issue that will only affect a select few: Our old friend, climate change!
Each of the feminist causes that Watson brought up — education, reproductive health, fair wages — is very much tied to the future of the planet. When girls are educated, they can participate in policy decisions and lead scientific research — and since there’s evidence that women are more likely to take the science behind climate change seriously, we really can’t afford for that
Control over their uteri, they can make decisions around how — and when — they contribute to population growth. And when women are paid fairly, they’re better equipped to deal with the challenges that climate change would throw them. Basically, there’s no such thing as sustainable development without equal participation of both
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