Emma Watson attended the first meeting of the G7 Advisory Council for Gender Equality on Tuesday. Emma and other activists met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris. “The Advisory Council intends to compile a list of exemplary gender equality laws from around the world so that they can be a source of inspiration for all.” – @G7
Archive for the ‘UN Women’ Category
Emma Attends G7 Advisory Council for Gender Equality
Wednesday, February 20th, 2019
Emma Walks in Women’s March in Washington
Sunday, January 22nd, 2017Emma Watson showed her support for women, minorities, and people of all religious faiths, nationalities or gender identities who’s rights are threatened by the new US government by participating in the Women’s March on Washington. Estimates are that over 500,000 people attended the event, far exceeding the number who were at the presidential inauguration on Friday. Similar protest marches were held around the world in many countries, with over 2 million participants.
Emma Attends ‘City of Joy’ Premiere
Tuesday, November 15th, 2016Emma Watson attended the premiere of City of Joy on Friday evening in New York. Emma wrote on her instagram “A privilege to attend last night’s DocNYC Film Festival premiere of CITY OF JOY. The film tells the story of a remarkable centre, City of Joy, in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where women who have suffered horrific abuse learn to be leaders. The documentary also explores the friendships between Dr. Denis Mukwege (2016 Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize), radical playwright and activist Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monolgoues) and human rights activist – and Director of the City of Joy – Christine Schuler-Deschryver, as they join forces to create this safe haven in the middle of violence-torn Eastern DRC. It is a powerful and beautiful film about the power of the human spirit and I urge you to seek it out: http://drc.vday.org/about-city-of-joy”
Emma and actress Thandie Newton and some of those followed in the documentary can be seen below.
Emma Visits Malawi and Ottawa for UN Women
Friday, October 14th, 2016
UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson visited Malawi this past Monday to “shine a global spotlight on the need to end child marriage”. Malawi has one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage with half of all girls married before the age of 18. Last year Malawi passed legislation raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 and Malawi President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has set a goal of fully implementing the new law within 5 years. Emma met with traditional chiefs and girls who have returned to school after having marriages annulled.
“Spending the day in the beautiful country of Malawi has been a moving and inspiring experience for me. Meeting with young girls, who like many in their country, are struggling with poverty and were pressured into early marriage, depriving them of their education in the process, made me realize just how important it is for women to be able to make their own choices. It’s so encouraging to see how such a harmful practice can be stopped when communities work together to pass laws, and then turn those laws into reality.”
“I applaud and thank our HeForShe Impact Champion President Mutharika for making this issue a priority in his Government, as well as all the traditional leaders—especially Chief Kachindamoto (so formidable, she has been nicknamed “The Terminator”!). She has implemented the annulment of so many child marriages and restored the futures of these girls. With the help and collaboration of her local chiefs, mothers’ groups and religious leaders, she has managed to annul almost 1500 child marriages, sending the girls back to school. President Mutharika has committed to make child marriage a thing of the past in Malawi within the next five years. Because of bold and brave leadership like this things may start to change. It was amazing to be on the ground with UN Women to witness their work!”
Emma met with Senior Chief Kachindamoto, “a prominent champion in the fight to stop child marriage. The Chief has annulled nearly 1,500 such marriages among her constituents, and suspended village heads who have consented to the practice”. Emma also met with girls who have returned to school after having their marriages annulled. For more
Last month Emma was in Ottawa, Canada for the 2016 One Young World Summit. She lead a special session on gender equality, “Challenging Stereotypes from the Ground Up”. In her opening statement, Emma spoke of the threats and abuse she’s suffered since founding the HeForShe campaign, finding her sense of belonging, her “tribe”, as an activist, and how communities can break down the gender barriers. “We, the entire spectrum of the feminist movement, are building an unstoppable current.”
Emma also met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the HeForShe campaign and his role of HeForShe Youth Ambassador.
Emma at the HeForShe Second Anniversary Celebration
Wednesday, September 21st, 2016Emma Watson, UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador, spoke at a reception celebrating the anniversary of the UN Women HeForShe initiative launched two years ago. Also speaking were Their Excellencies Sauli Niinistö, President of Finland, Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, Peter Mutharika, President of Malawi and Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada and Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women.
Earlier in the day, Emma introduced the release of the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity Report.
Emma on Colonia, Beauty and the Beast
Wednesday, June 29th, 2016Emma Watson talks about her new film Colonia, her character Lena, and visiting the site of the camp in Chile in two new interviews from Lorraine and Independent. She also talks about being cast as Belle in Beauty and the Beast, her love of fashion, and her work for the UN.
Colonia, as The Colony, opens in the UK July 1 in cinemas and on demand.
Emma Launches HeForShe Arts Week
Wednesday, March 9th, 2016On Tuesday, Emma Watson launched HeForShe’s Art Week in New York City at The Public Theater. Emma’s introduction was followed by a panel discussion with actor and UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace Forest Whitaker, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, and First Lady of NYC Chirlane McCray “on the powerful role arts play in shaping behaviours, norms and perceptions that shape our cultural view of gender”. After the discussion, Emma went to the Empire State Building for a lighting ceremony, illuminating the building in HeForShe magenta. Arts Week continues through March 15.
Emma and Tom Hanks Cover Esquire
Thursday, March 3rd, 2016
Emma Watson and Tom Hanks will cover a special “Women & Men” issue of Esquire. Emma revealed the cover on twitter, saying the magazine will feature 26 pages on why gender equality is an issue that involves us all, not just women. The April issue goes on sale Friday.
Emma and An Evening with Gloria Steinem
Friday, February 26th, 2016On Wednesday Emma Watson spent the evening with journalist and activist Gloria Steinem talking about feminism and gender equality. The sold out event was held at the Emmanuel Centre in London. Emma chose Steinem’s latest book My Life on the Road as the first read for her book club Our Shared Shelf. Started in January, her club soon became the largest group on Goodreads with over 100,000 members, twice that of the next most popular.
Video of the event has been released on Our Shared Shelf.
Emma Taking a Year Off from Acting
Friday, February 19th, 2016
In a conversation with author and social activist bell hooks, Emma Watson revealed she will be taking a year off from acting. Emma and hooks discuss feminism, reading, and the reasons for her hiatus. You can read the complete article published in Papermag here.
hooks: “As part of your efforts for activism and for self-growth, you’re taking a year away from acting. That’s a big decision.”
Watson: “I’m taking a year away from acting to focus on two things, really. My own personal development is one. I know that you read a book a day. My own personal task is to read a 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 and study just on my own. I almost thought about going and doing a year of gender studies, then I realized that I was learning so much by being on the ground and just speaking with people and doing my reading. That I was learning so much on my own. I actually wanted 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.”
And she’ll continue on with her work for HeForShe and the UN:
“This January, our HeForShe IMPACT champions are ten CEOs who for the first time will be releasing to the media what their companies look like internally. So how many CEOs are male or female, the gender wage gap. We’ll be making all of these statements completely transparent, which is huge. It’s never been done before. I’m very interested and excited to see how that works out. I’ll also take another field trip in the next two or three months. We are organizing a HeForShe arts week, a university tour, and launching the HeForShe website. It’s a lot. There’s a lot to do.”
