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Emma Watson takes break from acting to study feminism and work on HeForShe initiative

Actor Emma Watson revealed she will taking a year-long hiatus from acting, reported IANS. The UN goodwill ambassador, known for the HeForShe initiative, said she wanted to study feminism – a topic that she takes deep interest in. “I’m taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one and studying feminism is the other,” she said. “My own personal task is to read one book a week and also to read a book a month as part of my book club. I’m doing a huge amount of reading on my own.” Watson also added that, “I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realised that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading.”

The Harry Potter actor mentioned she wants to listen to the stories of different women in the world and work towards helping them. “I actually want to keep on the path that I’m on. I’m reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening,” said Watson. “I see so many women struggling with issues of self-esteem. They know and they hear it and they read it in magazines and books all the time that self-love is really important, but it’s really hard to actually do,” reported Washington Times.



Watson further shared she will simultaneously be working on her HeForShe campaign, which focuses on engaging men to fight for women’s rights and gender equality.  “What is really liberating and empowering, for me, is that so much of the self-critiquing is gone now,” she said.  Of why she opted to become more engaged with feminism, Watson noted it helped her to fight negativity.  “Engaging with feminism, there is this kind of bubble now that goes off in my head where I’m able to combat negative thoughts in a very rational and quick way.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd,  2016.

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