Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video

Emma Watson, British actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, co-hosts a special event for UN Women’s HeForShe campaign.

The HeForShe campaign is a solidarity movement for gender equality which calls upon men and boys to help end the persisting inequalities faced by women and girls globally.

Full event coverage:
http://webtv.un.org/search/launch-of-the-heforshe-campaign-special-event/3797140848001?term=heforshe

And now let's turn to a young
woman who has chosen to lend

her voice to this very important
solidarity movement.

She's a leading British actor,

an advocate for gender equality
in her own right.

She's been involved with
the promotion of girls

education for several years.

As part of her humanitarian
efforts,

she's visited Bangladesh,
Zambia,

recently returned as we just
heard from Uruguay

on her first mission
with UN Women.

Ladies and gentlemen,

please join me in welcoming to
this stage our co-host

and the UN Women's Global
Goodwill ambassador,

Emma Watson.

[applause]

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 for 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 and make
sure that it's tangible.

I was appointed

as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women six months ago.

And, the more I've spoken
about feminism,

the more I have 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 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 at 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 sexualized 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 muscly.

When at 18,

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 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 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]

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 might give birth
to a child one day.

These influences were 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 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 effect 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]

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 need of 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 UK,

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 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 won'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 perceive
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 freer,

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,

reclaim 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 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 it is 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 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 75 years,
or for me to be nearly 100,

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 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.

[applause]

What a beautiful,
beautiful speech.

Uh, what a beautiful
thought.

Emma, pay attention.