Celebrity Highlight: Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador

By Chelsea L.

I am obsessed with Emma Watson. She is wonderful in so many ways. 

She has brains, she speaks confidently for causes she believes in, and SHE REPRESENTS STRONG WOMEN. You probably know her as bringing magic to the screen as Hermoine Granger in the Harry Potter series... but now, she's bringing magic to the world! 

Emma is the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and has made a huge splash with her empowering speech about feminism and women’s rights.

Her speech was brilliant and convicting. Here are some highlights:

“I realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.”

Though "feminism" has been given a bad rep, Emma is fighting to redefine feminism as something that all women should identify with- it's a movement to empower and inspire women, bring gender-equality to all facets of life, and most importantly, to make women proud to be, well... women. 

“I think women are scared of feeling POWERFUL and strong and brave sometimes. There’s nothing wrong with being AFRAID. It’s not the absence of fear it’s OVERCOMING it and sometimes, you just have to blast through and have FAITH.”

Mmmm.. preach Emma, preach.

“If we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer.”

Often times, we let society determine who we're supposed to be, what we're supposed to do, and how we're supposed to act. Emma's right. It's time for us to transcend  gender norms, labels, and stereotypes. If we just get ridda' all of that poision in the world, and just EMBRACE who we are, wouldn't that be amazing? 

Sometimes it's frustrating when people assume that women's rights are only womens' issues..
as if the onus were only on us to initiate that change... but I love Emma's "formal invitation" for men to hop on board because gender equality is their issue too.

And oh my goodness. If I were a guy being offered an invitation from Emma, I would sure take it. 

(For Emma Watson’s UN Speech, click the following link: Emma Watson's Speech)
(For more information regarding UN Women and their Goodwill Ambassadors, click the following link: UN Women)