There’s one thing on everyone’s lips here on the FEMAIL desk, and it’s Emma Watson’s game-changing speech on feminism.
The actress, 24, has been busy at work in her role as UN Goodwill Ambassador, and on Saturday launched a new campaign for gender equality.
HeForShe follows feminism’s principles of striving for equal rights and opportunities for men and women, including the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.
But it aims to repackage the concept without emphasis on oppression by the male sex.
In fact Emma formally invited men – who may have previously felt alienated from the movement – to play a greater role in ending gender inequality.
Emma’s simple but eloquent speech has shaken feminism, prompting global applause as well as vile threats from trolls.
Male celebrities including comedian Simon Pegg, author Neil Gaiman and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt immediately tweeted support for Emma’s plight and for HeForShe.
Joseph is even working on a film project asking people to define what feminism means to them.
Here on FEMAIL we couldn’t agree more that feminism in its fourth wave should be as inclusive and open as possible, and we join Emma in saluting all men coming who come out as feminists in support of HeForShe – simply announcing their belief in gender equality.
The UN Women campaign aims to get 100,000 men and boys involved in the fight to achieve gender equality.
The Vagenda’s Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett said Emma’s speech ‘was a real watershed moment for me’, while the Telegraph called it ‘incredible’.
Transgender activist and model Geena Rocero said she ‘couldn’t agree more’ with the actress.
Everyday Sexism’s Laura Bates told MailOnline: ‘It’s fantastic to see feminism being talked about on the world stage, especially as we are seeing a huge resurgence in the movement in the UK and globally.
‘The cowards who have tried to silence Emma with threats of leaked photographs have only proved her point a thousand times over.
‘As Emma rightly pointed out, this is not about men against women, it’s about people standing up to prejudice. Gender inequality isn’t a “women’s issue”, it’s a human rights issue, and it’s in everybody’s interest to stand up to it together.’
Everyday Sexism and the End Violence Against Women Coalition today launched a campaign calling for young people to be taught about vital issues such as sexual consent and healthy relationships.
At the United Nations headquarters, Emma revealed the sexism she has experienced throughout her life, saying it started at the age of eight when she was branded ‘bossy’ for wanting to direct school plays.
She continued: ‘At 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn’t want to appear ‘muscly’…at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.’
Mlambo Ngcuka, who announced the ‘HeForShe’ campaign in March, called on the world’s fathers, sons, husbands and brothers to stand up and support equality for women in all areas of life.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union says less that 22 percent of parliamentarians are women. There are also still 100 countries with laws that prevent women’s meaningful involvement in the economy, Mlambo Ngcuka said.
She said projections indicate that if things don’t change it will take 95 years to achieve gender equality, and by 2020 and some 140,000 girls will be forced into child marriage.
UN Women said supporters of the HeForShe campaign include actors Matt Damon, Patrick Stewart, Antonio Banderas and Kiefer Sutherland, and South African Nobel peace laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
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