(This is going to be the first article of two articles I amwriting about movie stars Emma Watson and Shailene Woodley and how there is more to them than what meets the eye in regards to major social movements. Stay tuned!)
I love Harry Potter! I have read the series multiple times and own all of the movies. Hermione Granger is my favorite character, you know for all the reasons I love most of strong female lead roles. She is smart, strong, independent and doesn’t take bullshit from anyone, including Malfoy. If we can all take a second to remember this great scene in the third movie …
My love for Hermione also carries over for my love for Emma Watson, and how could you not love Emma Watson? Like her counterpart she is smart, strong, independent and doesn’t take any bullshit. However incase you didn’t know Watson is a huge advocate for gender equality and is definitely more than just a beautiful woman who is a good actress.
Okay so some basic background information on this amazing women. She was born April 15, 1990 and was raised in Oxfordshire. She starred in the Harry Potter series between 2001 and 2011 and since then has had roles in a bunch of different films including Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Bling Ring, and Noah to name a few. She graduated from Brown University with a bachelor’s in English Literature in 2014. But there was also another huge milestone in Watson’s life in 2014 when she was appointed as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and started the campaign HeForShe.
UN Women is an organization under the United Nations working toward the goal of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Then more specifically Watson’s HeForShe campaign has the goal of engaging males to become advocates for gender equality.
Watson is a true believer that gender equality is a human issue not just a woman’s issue. In her speech launching the HeForShe campaign Watson said, “men - I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too,” (unwomen.org). Little do people know men also fall under the trap of gender stereotypes just like women, by avoiding things that would make them look less “macho” or by not trying to be sensitive (unwomen.org). Watson notes that “if we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are - we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom,” (unwomen.org).
Okay so what has happened since the launch of this campaign in the last two years? Well, over 100,000 men have signed up showing their support for HeForShe (Huffington Post). In Sweden the government “has committed to close both the employment and the pay gap for all of its citizens” (Huffington Post). And “husband schools” in Zimbabwe have been created in order to make abusive and unreliable husbands into better partners (Huffington Post). So it seems that we are taking steps in the right direction and head of HeForShe Elizabeth Nyamayaro believes that this is still just the beginning!
Watson has also created a Feminist book club on the website goodreads.com called Our Shared Shelf. Where she selects and reads a book every month that has to do with equality. These books can range from inspiring to funny to sad. It is basically another way that Watson has opened up a forum for conversation about gender equality. And yes, both males and females are apart of this book club.
So in my somewhat biased opinion there is definitely more to Emma Watson then what originally meets the eye, especially if you just focus on her Harry Potter acting career. I highly encourage everyone to go check out the HeForShe campaign because gender equality is so important for everyone!
Here are some websites where you can learn more and get involved with this great campaign that Emma Watson is working on. I also encourage you to follow her on Instagram to keep in touch with her most recent efforts.
HeForShe website: http://www.heforshe.org/en
UN Women website: http://www.unwomen.org/en
Emma Watson’s Goodreads Book Club: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/179584-emma-s...
Instagram: @emmawatson
