Emma Watson:
Your excellencies, UN Secretary General, President of
the General Assembly, Executive Director of UN Women, and distinguished guests.
Today, we are launching a campaign called HeForShe. I
am reaching out to you because 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 and galvanize 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 to make sure its tangible. I was appointed to as
Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women six months ago. And the more I’ve spoken about
feminism, the more I 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 political, economic, and sexual equality of the sexes. I started questioning
gender-based assumptions a long time ago.
When I was
eight, I was confused 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
fourteen, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at
fifteen, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams
because they didn’t want to appear “muscle-y”. When at eighteen, my male
friends were unable to express their feelings. I decided that I was a feminist.
And this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that
feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as
feminist. 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 it is right
that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and the decisions that will
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 would
give birth to a child one day. These influences with 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 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 thirty percent of the audience
were male. How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited?
Or feel welcomed to participate in a conversation?
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend
your formal invitation. (applause)
Gender equality is your issue too. Because to date, I
have 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 men or less of a man. In fact, in the UK suicide is the biggest
killer of men between twenty or forty –nine eclipsing road accidents, cancer,
and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by
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 they are. And that when they are free, things
will change for women as a natural consequence. 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 don’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 perceived gender on a spectrum
instead of two sets of opposing ideals. (applause).
If we stop defining each other by what we are not and
start defining ourselves by who we are we can all be free-er. And this is what
HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom. I want men to take up this mantle, so
that their daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice. But also
so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too. We claim
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 speaking at the UN?” and it’s 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 seen and given the chance,
I feel it is my responsibility to say something. Statesman Edmund Burk 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 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 that those
words will be helpful. Because, the reality is that if we do nothing it will
take seventy-five years of for me to be nearly one-hundred before women can
expect to be paid the same as men. For the same work. Fifteen-point-five million
girls will be married in the next sixteen 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 inequality, 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. (applause)
Transcribed by Adinda Prasty Ascalonicawati
Oct 14, 2018
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