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 to mobilize 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 spoke 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 social equality of the sexes. I started questioning
gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for
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 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’m 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 it is right
that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and 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 see these rights. No
country in the world can yet say that they 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 that 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. 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. 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. 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 told myself firmly, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” If you have
similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope those words will
be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will take
seventy-five years, or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to be
paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 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, we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I invite
you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not
now, when?”
Thank you very, very much.
