Freshly anointed U.N.
Women Goodwill
Ambassador Emma
Watson gave a speech at
the U.N. headquarters yesterday in
honor of the new "HeForShe" gender
equality campaign, which aims to
"mobilize men against gender
inequalities."
"Today, we are launching a campaign called
HeForShe. I am reaching out to you before we
need your help. We want to end gender inequality
and to do this, we need everyone involved. This is
the first campaign of its kind at the UN. We want
to try to galvanise as many men and boys as
possible to be advocates for change and we don't
just want to talk about it. We want to try and make
sure that it's tangible."
"I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for U.N.
Women six months ago and the more I've spoken
about feminism, the more I have realised 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 a long time ago."
"When I was 8, I was confused about being called
'bossy' because I wanted to direct the plays that
we would put on for our parents. But the boys
were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualised by
certain elements of the media, when at 15, my
girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved
sports teams, because they didn't want to appear
'muscle-y,' when at 18, my male friends were
unable to express their feelings, I decided that I
was a feminist. And this seems uncomplicated to
me. But my recent research has shown me that
feminism has become an unpopular word."
"Women are choosing not to identify as feminists.
Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose
expressions are seen as too strong, 'too
aggressive,' isolating and anti-men, unattractive,
even. Why has the word become such an
uncomfortable one?"
"I am from Britain and I think it is right that 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 [applause break] ... I
think it is right that women be involved on my
behalf in the policies and the decisions that affect
my life. 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. No country in the world can yet say
that they have achieved gender equality. 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
that I would go less far because I might give birth
to a child one day. These influencers are 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. We need more of those and if you still hate
the word, it is not the word that is important. It's
the idea and the ambition behind it. Because not
all women have received the same rights that I
have. In fact, statistically, very few have been."
"In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in
Beijing about women's rights. Sadly, many of the
things that she wanted to change are still true
today. But what stood out for me the most was
that less than 30 per cent of the 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?"
"Men, I would like to take this opportunity to
extend your formal invitation." [Applause break]
"Gender equality is your issue too. 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
less of a man. In fact, in the U.K., suicide is the
biggest killer of men, between 20 to 49, 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 want to talk about men being
imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see
that they are. When they are free, things will
change for women as a natural consequence. If
men don't have to be aggressive, women won't be
compelled to be submissive. If men don't need to
control, women won't have to be controlled."
"It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum
instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should
stop defining each other by what we are not and
start defining ourselves by who we are. We can all
be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It's
about freedom. I want men to take up this mantle
so their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free
from prejudice but also so their sons have
permission to be vulnerable and human, too and in
doing so, be a more true and complete version of
themselves."
"You might think, 'Who is this Harry Potter girl?
What is she doing at the U. N.?' And it's a really
good question — I've been asking myself the same
thing. 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 my
responsibility to say something. Statesman
Edmund Burke said all that is needed for the
forces of evil to triumph is for good men and
women to do nothing."
"In my nervousness for this speech and 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 that those words will be helpful because the
reality is, if we do nothing, it will take 75 years or
for me, to be nearly 100, 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 can have a
secondary education."
"If you believe in equality, you might be one of
those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier
and for this, I applaud you. We are struggling for a
uniting word but the good news is that we have a
uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I am
inviting you to step forward to be seen and to ask
yourself, 'If not me, who? If not now, when?' Thank
you very, very much."
No comments:
Post a Comment