On March 8th, in celebration of International Women’s day, Emma Watson visited Facebook’s London headquarters to host a discussion about gender equality and her organization HeForShe. As the UN Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson, known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films, has made it her mission to bridge the equality gap between genders. The Facebook conference was a Q&A session, moderated by Greg James, using questions submitted on Facebook and from the live audience.
To start off the event, Emma Watson gave some background about what HeForShe is. In December 2014 Watson announced the creation of HeForShe, “a solidarity movement… developed… to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights.” Watson addressed the UN about HeForShe with a powerful speech that quickly went viral. Describing her main goal for the speech, Watson said “I really wanted to communicate that gender equality, historically, has been predominantly a women’s movement for women, but I feel like the impact of gender equality and how it is really affecting men hasn’t been addressed. So I really wanted to make that one of the clearest messages in my speech.” HeForShe has gathered thousands of signatures from men around the world who want to share their support for gender equality, and the campaign is only growing.
During the Q&A, Watson dished out a lot of valuable advice for everyone, including her younger self. “What I would tell my younger self if someone said [a sexist comment] to me [is] I [should] know that I am not alone in this fight. That it’s an education problem. And in the not too distant future I really hope that most people will be horrified by a comment like that, as opposed to sort of mildly irked.” Watson knows when to pick her battles, but she is done standing quietly aside when faced with sexism. Watson’s fans constantly tell her stories of the sexism they have faced, and in response, Watson says “don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do or what you can or cannot achieve. Just don’t allow it. Be who you want to be!” Even simple things like encouraging girls to pursue careers that are male dominated can make a monumental difference, because as Watson said, “Women have so much to offer… so much potential gets wasted because women aren’t encouraged the same way men are. We could achieve so much.”
The purpose of HeForShe is to make men realize that gender equality can be as beneficial for them as it can be for women. “We don’t acknowledge how much pressure we put on men to conform to a certain perception of masculinity…. I get disturbed by this idea that men can’t cry. They can’t express themselves and I think that’s the saddest thing in the world. Being able to express yourself is what makes you human — it’s not what makes you a girl.” Watson wants her supporters to break down these stereotypes, and share their process through social media. It does not matter how small the actions are: ” Whether it’s speaking up or trying to change the way someone else thinks about an issue… It’s everyday, it’s individual, it’s on a case by case basis.”
Emma Watson said many wise things in her HeForShe speech. She made it clear that while her campaign is aimed at men, “It’s not about men saving women.” HeForShe is “not a men’s club,” said Watson, “It’s an equality club for both genders.” To ge the full benifit of Watson’s wisdom, watch Emma Watson’s entire Facebook Q&A (https://youtu.be/LNi9Ypc0cg8).