The worldwide movement of feminism barely began before both men and woman around the world were already rapidly dismissing it. Some groups of woman took it upon themselves to proudly exclaim that “feminists are annoying” and several men remarked “she is playing the girl card.” One thing was clear, though, feminism had been widely misconstrued to mean man hating. This misconception wasn’t helped when the star of the biggest summer blockbuster, Shailene Woodley, famously declared she’s was not a feminist because “she loves men.”
The time had come for a person of influence to impact the minds of people all around the world (not just women) regarding feminism.
And this past week, we found this person. You might recognize her as Emma Watson. Widely known to many as Hermione Granger from Harry Potter, Watson is also the UN Woman Goodwill Ambassador who gave a thought provoking speech asking a very insightful question: how could feminism be a worldwide movement if society believes it only applies to half of the population?
Watson’s ideas hinge on a point that has been commonly forgotten about in mainstream conversations about feminism. The notion is that men have to care about feminism just as strongly as women need to care about feminism.
As a student currently enrolled in a class entitled Rise of the Modern Woman, I’ve seen societies misconstrued mindset in relating to seeing men and women in separate spheres. Fun fact, they are not for only for woman to be enrolled in. For example, my class contains 24 girls, but there is only one boy.
I believe the low male enrollment in my woman’s class is a direct reflection of societies obsession with keeping men and women in separate spheres. This is just one case of what Watson is trying to combat: the nurturing that men receive from people who influence them which leads them to not be interested in classes relating to woman for fear of losing their so called “masculinity.”
As Watson so eloquently said, “people need to see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.”
Watson’s campaign HeForShe asks men to take a stand toward gender equality, not only for their wives and daughters, but also for themselves. HeForShe is an incredibly tangible idea—as long as both men and women understand the realities of the subliminal oppression, which modern day women receive in the workforce, family, and society.
We’ve all heard the phrase “shot heard around the world,” so lets make this the “speech heard across the world” and take Watson’s ideas and change something with them.
Photo source:
http://www.cbc.ca/newsblogs/yourcommunity/2014/09/emma-watsons-un-speech…