Emma Watson’s U.N. Speech

Last month, actress and U.N. Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson delivered an impassioned speech about gender equality at the U.N. Headquarters to help launch the “HeForShe” campaign. The movement aims to bring solidarity in the fight for gender equality by inviting men and boys into the conversation.

I applaud Emma Watson for her speech. It’s refreshing to see a widely admired and respected celebrity use their influence to promote a worthy cause. She boldly identified herself as a feminist, which is a term many seem to shy away from. However, Watson’s speech has faced a lot of scrutiny. Users of the social media platform 4Chan attacked Watson in her plead for equality by threatening to leak nude photos of her online. This only further proves the need for feminism and illustrates one of the disturbing, but true points that Watson made in her speech: no single country has fully achieved gender equality.

Watson’s speech illuminated many crucial issues in the realm of feminism, including the way feminism is incorrectly perceived. It is not unusual for both men and women to have negative reactions to the word “feminism” because the word is often associated with man-hating. This is the opposite definition of what feminism stands for, which is equality among genders. Misogyny– the hatred of women by men, and misandry– the hatred of men by women, is what feminism aims to eliminate. As Watson stated, it is important to move past the negative connotation the word “feminism” creates and focus on the purpose and intention behind it.

Another important concern Watson discussed is society’s harmful implications of what masculinity means. How can we achieve equality when normal human emotions and actions are limited to social constructs of masculinity and femininity? In many cultures, boys are taught that crying is a sign of weakness and is not “manly”, even though it is a normal expression of emotion. Girls are taught that they are weak to the point where it’s an insult. “You hit like a girl” and “you run like a girl” are commonplace remarks that negatively impact both girls’ and boys’ perception of gender.

If gender equality is to progress, these negative stereotypes must be eliminated. Watson promoted this idea in her speech when she stated that, “Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong.”

While Watson brought up very valid points in her speech, she is receiving some backlash from the media. Huffington Post posted an article titled “Sorry Privileged White Ladies, But Emma Watson Isn’t a ‘Game Changer’ for Feminism” and TIME similarly came out with an article titled “Sorry, Emma Watson, but HeForShe Is Rotten for Men.” People have pointed out that Watson did not fully acknowledge her privileges given to her as a white person. In a sense, this is true. Historically, most of the prominent gender equality icons have been white females. Of course, it is important to open up the conversation about feminism to all races and ethnicities. It is also disappointing that not everyone has the equal opportunity to be a spokesperson or have such a strong influence over these issues. However, I don’t think Watson’s speech should be discredited because of her privileges.

An additional criticism of Watson’s speech is that by inviting men to speak up about these issues, it might be seen as an invitation for men to speak over women. The way HeForShe is worded, it sounds like men have to be the rescuers of women and fight for equality in their place, rather than fighting beside women to end inequality. This might make some girls and women feel isolated from the campaign. While this certainly is not the intention of U.N. Women, it is understandable that is it being interpreted in this way. Watson’s speech and the launch of the HeForShe movement is a progressive and growing campaign. At the end of the day, its intention is an authentic and crucial one: to improve the quality of life by decreasing suppressive inequality in the world.