How Emma Watson ‘wasted a magic wand’ to end violence against women

Emma Watson’s speech marks the launch of the United Nations’ #HeForShe campaign, calling on men to be allies in the cause of feminism.

Emma Watson speaking at the United Nations. Photo: VanityFair .

During her teenage years, Emma Watson played the female lead Hermione Granger in the illustrious Harry Potter film series. When Ban Ki-moon introduced her to speak in 2014, he said: “You waved a magic wand in your film… I hope you will use your wand to end violence against women”. Without chopsticks, Watson used his words.

The speech marked the launch of the United Nations’ #HeForShe campaign, calling on men to be allies in the cause of feminism. The speech has had more than 5 million views on YouTube.

At first, Watson’s popularity may have attracted many viewers, especially young people, but the speech itself became famous for its clear message: Gender equality matters too. your subject.

She spoke carefully and seriously. And her speech makes no assumptions about the viewer’s point of view. She doesn’t direct her words at like-minded people, she aims to convince everyone.

Watson later said that she was advised not to use the word “feminist” in her speech, but she realized that was the problem.

She has tried to explain in detail why she calls herself a feminist and what it means. She carefully lists personal experiences that have led her to challenge gender stereotypes: at the age of 8 she was described as bossy, at 14 she was sexually assaulted by the press.

And the speech was powerful. Young women around the world watched the speech and felt empowered to use the word “feminism”, seeing it as a positive and powerful word.

Even Malala, who has publicly campaigned for girls’ education for many years, later told Watson that she found the word “feminist” a difficult word before seeing Watson’s speech: “You hesitated in saying that I am a feminist or not? After listening to your speech, I decided… there’s nothing wrong with calling myself a feminist.”

Young actors or artists who make the leap from the dramatic to the political stage often face mixed reactions. Their popularity may make it harder for an opponent to silence them, but deciding to speak up is still a difficult one and their status cannot protect them from the backlash that is certain to follow. go out.

Watson said that the speech led to “a level of criticism I had never experienced in my life and the beginning of a series of threats”.

But as she says in this speech, she asked herself, as many of the women in this book have done since then: “If not me, then who? If not now, when? “.

Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe”.

I pass on to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality, and to do that, we need everyone involved.

This is the first campaign of its kind at the United Nations: we want to encourage as many men as possible to become advocates of gender equality. And we won’t just talk, we’ll make sure this isn’t just a pipe dream.

I was appointed a United Nations Women’s Goodwill Ambassador six months ago and the more I talk about feminism, the more I realize that fighting for women’s rights is often seen as synonymous with hate. male. If there’s one thing I know for sure, I know I have to put an end to this view.

In fact, the definition of feminism is: “Men and women must have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of gender equality in politics, economy and society”.

I started questioning assumptions based on gender since I was eight years old, I was bewildered by being called “bossy”, because I wanted to direct the plays we played for our parents – but boys are not called like that.

When I was fourteen, some newspapers began to sexualize me.

At the age of fifteen, my girlfriends started dropping out of the sports team because they didn’t want their looks to be “muscular”.

When I turned 18, my male friends could no longer express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist and this didn’t seem complicated to me. But recent research has shown me that “feminism” has become an unpopular word. It turned out that I was among those women whose expressions were perceived as too strong, too aggressive, isolated, man-hating, and unattractive.

Why does this word create such an unpleasant feeling?

I’m from the UK and I think I should be paid the same as my male colleagues. I think it’s only right that I get to make decisions about my body issues. I think it is right for women to participate in policies on my behalf and have a role in deciding issues in my country. But sadly, there won’t be a country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.

No country in the world can say that it has achieved gender equality yet.

These rights are human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones. My life has been an absolute privilege because my parents love me no less because I am a girl. School doesn’t limit me because I’m a girl. My career mentors don’t assume that I won’t be able to go any further because I might one day have a baby. These influencers for me are the gender equality ambassadors who made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the unwitting feminists who are changing the world today. We need more people like them.

And if you still hate those two words – it’s not the words that matter but the idea and ambition behind it. Because not all women have the same rights as me. According to actual statistics, very few people can do that.

In 1995, Hillary Clinton gave a famous speech in Beijing on women’s rights. Sadly, many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today.

But what I noticed most was that only 30% of her audience was male. How can we make a difference around the world when only half are invited or feel welcome to join the conversation?

Men – I would like to take this opportunity to extend my official invitation to you. Gender equality is also your problem.

Because to this day, I see my father’s role as a parent not being taken seriously by society, even though as a child I needed his presence as much as my mother.

I have seen so many young men who are mentally ill and unable to seek help for fear that it will make them look less “manly” – in fact in the UK suicide is the leading cause of death among men. gender from 20-49 years old; than road traffic accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I have seen men become fragile and insecure because of a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men are also not entitled to equal benefits.

We don’t usually talk about men being held captive in gender stereotypes but I can see that they are being held captive and when they are free, things change for women because that’s the result. necessary. If men didn’t have to be aggressive to be accepted, women wouldn’t feel obligated to submit. If men don’t control, women won’t have to be controlled.

Both men and women should feel free to express their sensibilities. Both men and women should be free to be strong… It’s time for all of us to see gender on a scale, not as two opposing ideals.

If we stop defining each other by what we don’t have and start defining ourselves by what we have – we can all be more free and this is what “HeForShe” is all about. . Its goal is freedom.

I want men to put on this mantle so that their daughters, sisters, and mothers can no longer suffer prejudices, but at the same time, so that boys are allowed to express themselves and have fun. people’s emotions – reclaim the parts they’ve tried to remove from themselves, in doing so they will become a more authentic and complete version of themselves.

You may be thinking, who is this little girl in the Harry Potter movie ? What is she doing on stage at the United Nations? That’s a good question and trust me, I was wondering the same thing. I don’t know if I’m qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this issue. And I want it to be better.

And having witnessed many cases, I feel it is my duty to say something when the opportunity arises. British statesman Edmund Burke said: “As long as there are enough good men and women to do nothing, the evil will prevail.”

In my anxiety over this speech and in moments of doubt, I told myself – if not me, then who; if not now, then when. If you have similar doubts when the opportunity comes your way, I hope those words can be helpful.

Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take 75 years, or when I’m about to be a hundred, before women can be paid fair wages. Over the next 16 years, 15.5 million girls will get married. And at the current rate, it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls can attend secondary school.

If you believe in equality, you may have unwittingly become one of the feminists I talked about earlier.

And I applaud you for this.

We are struggling to find a unified word but the good news is that we already have a solidarity movement. It’s called “HeForShe”. I invite you to step up, to be seen, to speak up, to be “he” instead of “she”. And to ask yourself: if not me, then who? If not now, then when?

Src: zingnews.com