Watson asks women to avoid complacence

Actor uses International Women’s Day to add impetus to the HeForShe campaign.

LONDON: British actor Emma Watson urged more men and boys on Sunday to take a stand for women’s rights and be proud to be feminists in a bid to add momentum to a global campaign to unite men and women for gender equality. Watson, 24, a goodwill ambassador for UN Women, used International Women’s Day to add impetus to the HeForShe campaign, which was launched in September last year, and encourages men and boys to join the fight for equal rights.

So far, around 240,000 men have pledged their commitment online, according to the HeForShe website, including US President Barack Obama and actor Matt Damon, but there is a target to mobilise 1 billion men and boys by July this year. “There has been a ground swell of support, but we need more men to take a stand for gender equality,” Watson told a discussion on gender equality at Facebook’s London headquarters. “Men often think that feminism is a women’s word...but if you stand for gender equality, you are a feminist.”

Watson also said that the campaign was not about men saving women and also called upon women to support the campaign. “It’s uncomfortable and awkward for women to acknowledge there is a problem, but we need to understand we are complicit,” she said.

The actor said she was pleased with the response to the ‘Impact 10X10X10’ initiative, a one-year pilot project launched in January, seeking commitments from governments, companies and universities on women’s empowerment and gender equality. Several countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands and Sierra Leone, have backed the campaign, Watson said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2015.

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