ENGLISH SPEECH | EMMA WATSON: Gender Equality (English Subtitles) — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00I am reaching out to you because I need your help.
2. 0:13We want to end gender inequality—and to do that we need everyone to be involved.
3. 0:14This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many
4. 0:15men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality.
5. 0:16And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure it is tangible.
6. 0:17I was appointed six months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have
7. 0:20realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating.
8. 0:31If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
9. 0:39For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have
10. 0:48equal rights and opportunities.
11. 0:52It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.”
12. 1:02I started questioning gender-based assumptions when at eight I was confused at being called
13. 1:10“bossy,” because I wanted to direct the plays we would put on for our parents—but
14. 1:17the boys were not.
15. 1:20When at 14 I started being sexualized by certain elements of the press.
16. 1:25When at 15 my girlfriends started dropping out of their sports teams because they didn’t
17. 1:33want to appear “muscly.”
18. 1:34When at 18 my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
19. 1:43I decided I was a feminist and this seemed uncomplicated to me.
20. 1:49But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
21. 2:08Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive,
22. 2:20isolating, anti-men and, unattractive.
23. 2:28Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?
24. 2:36I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
25. 2:45I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body.
26. 2:51I think it is right that women be involved
27. 2:54on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country.
28. 3:01I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men.
29. 3:10But sadly I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to
30. 3:20receive these rights.
31. 3:23No country in the world can yet say they have achieved gender equality.
32. 3:28These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones.
33. 3:29My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a
34. 3:30daughter.
35. 3:31My school did not limit me because I was a girl.
36. 3:32My mentors didn’t assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child
37. 3:33one day.
38. 3:34These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today.
39. 3:35They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today.
40. 3:36And we need more of those.
41. 3:37And if you still hate the word—it is not the word that is important but the idea and
42. 3:38the ambition behind it.
43. 3:39Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have.
44. 3:40In fact, statistically, very few have been.
45. 3:41In 1995, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights.
46. 3:42Sadly many of the things she wanted to change are still a reality today.
47. 3:43But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male.
48. 3:44How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome
49. 3:45to participate in the conversation?
50. 3:46Men—I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation.
51. 3:47Gender equality is your issue too.
52. 3:48Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society
53. 3:49despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s.
54. 3:50I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it
55. 3:51would make them look less “macho”—in fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer
56. 3:52of men between 20-49 years of age; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart
57. 3:53disease.
58. 3:54I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male
59. 3:55success.
60. 3:56Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.
61. 3:57We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes but I can see that that
62. 3:58they are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
63. 3:59If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t feel compelled
64. 4:00to be submissive.
65. 4:01If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.
66. 4:02Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive.
67. 4:03Both men and women should feel free to be strong…
68. 4:04It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.
69. 4:05If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what
70. 4:06we are—we can all
71. 4:07be freer and this is what HeForShe is about.
72. 4:08It’s about freedom.
73. 4:09I want men to take up this mantle.
74. 4:10So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their
75. 4:11sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too—reclaim those parts of themselves
76. 4:12they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves.
77. 4:13You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl?
78. 4:14And what is she doing up on stage at the UN.
79. 4:15It’s a good question and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing.
80. 4:16I don’t know if I am qualified to be here.
81. 4:17All I know is that I care about this problem.
82. 4:18And I want to make it better.
83. 4:19And having seen what I’ve seen—and given the chance—I feel it is my duty to say something.
84. 4:20English Statesman Edmund Burke said: “All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph
85. 4:21is for enough good men and women to do nothing.”
86. 4:22In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt I’ve told myself firmly—if
87. 4:23not me, who, if not now, when.
88. 4:24If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you I hope those words might
89. 4:25be helpful.
90. 4:26Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or for me to be nearly
91. 4:27a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men for the same work.
92. 4:2815.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children.
93. 4:29And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African girls will be able
94. 4:30to receive a secondary education.
95. 4:31If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists I spoke of
96. 4:32earlier.
97. 4:33And for this I applaud you.
98. 4:34We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is we have a uniting movement.
99. 4:35It is called HeForShe.
100. 4:36I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen to speak up, to be the "he" for "she".
101. 4:37And to ask yourself if not me, who?
102. 4:38If not now, when?
103. 4:39Thank you.