Learn English with Emma Watsons Speech on the HeForShe Campaign English Subtitle

women are choosing not to identify as

feminists apparently I am 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 that 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

[Applause]

I think it is right that women be

involved on my behalf in the policies

and the decisions that will affect my

life I think it is right that’s 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 receive these rights no

country in the world can yet say that

they have 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 with agenda equality

ambassadors that made me who I am today

they may not know it but they are the

inadvertent feminists who 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

that I have in fact statistically very

few have been 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 30 percent of the

audience

were male how can we affect 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 needing 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 men or 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

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 he 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 to

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’ve told myself

firmly if not me who if not now when if

you have similar doubts when

opportunities are presented to you I

hope that those words will be helpful

because the reality is that if we do

nothing it will take 75 years or for me

it to be nearly a hundred before women

connect

Specht to be paid the same as men for

the same work fifteen point five million

girls will be married in the next 16

years as children and at current rates

it won’t be until two thousand and

eighty six 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 that we have a

uniting movement it is called he for she

I am inviting you to step forward to be

seen and to ask yourself

[Music]