Organizations That Help Gender Equality (Part 2)

HeForShe is a campaign that aims to achieve gender equality. HeForShe was launched September 20th, 2014 by the United Nations. The day included a conference to talk about getting involved in the fight for gender equality. HeForShe describes themselves as having one half of the world’s population fighting for the other half, to benefit everyone.

The ‘HeForShe’ commitment is a pledge that men can take on the HeForShe homepage

( http://www.heforshe.org/ ) that states that they understand that gender equality is not only a women’s issue, and that we need everyone to take part in this. Currently, more than 300 000 men have taken the pledge across the world.

I am fully in support of the HeForShe campaign. Since its beginning, I have been talking about the conference with people I know, and spreading the campaign. My attention to this movement was first caught when I came across a video that included one of my favorite people, Emma Watson. Emma Watson spoke at the campaign launch as the UN Women’s Goodwill Ambassador, and she spoke her fifteen minute speech without me once disagreeing with her. I am sure that, if you take the time to watch this life-changing video, you will be able to begin to see why, and how, I am so passionate about gender equality.

In the speech, a few key things talked about are:

• Gender equality is not just a women’s issue, and we need the help of as many men and boys as possible.
• Gender equality shouldn’t just be talked about, we should make sure that it will last.
• Feminism and how so many people see it as man-hating. Many people are ‘afraid’ of the word, but it shouldn’t be the word that matters, it should be the idea and the drive behind it to make a change.
• Gender based assumptions.
• There is no country anywhere in the world where all women can expect to have their human rights.
• How can we have change when only half of the population are welcome in the conversation?
• When men are free from male stereotypes, there will be a natural consequence and everybody (men and women)  will see change.
• “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

Also within Emma’s speech, she introduced some staggering facts that will be true if we do not make the change, and make gender equality a true, tangible thing.

• If we do nothing, it will take seventy-five (75) years before women will be payed the same as men.
• 15.5 million girls will be married as children in the sixteen (16) years.
• It will be the year 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.

HeForShe is a relatively new organization that is a push in the right direction. Since its launch, it has reached out to so many people across the world. As of now, Canada has 15 571 men who have signed the pledge. I think that even though this is a relatively small number in perspective, it is also a great number. This number tells people that although we are working hard, we do not have everyone participating, and we still have a long way to go.