“It’s LeviOsa not LeviosA.” We all know the line, even if we’re not that crazy about Harry Potter. She fought alongside the Chosen One in the battle to defeat You Know Who. She punched Draco Malfoy in the face. Hermione Granger was the symbol of intelligent and strong women for almost a decade. However, the woman who portrayed Ms. Granger is a symbol of intelligent and strong women too.
Emma Watson began her first movie role with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. She grew up through the series and in the public eye. As with many stars, the common question is, “Will they be able to shed their type cast/their most prominent role?” In 2007, BBC released its film entitled, The Ballet Shoes and thus began Emma Watson’s career in the movie business unrelated to Harry Potter.
Emma has accomplished much more than becoming a world-renowned actress though. Let’s take a look at what she’s done:
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Actress: Harry Potter, The Ballet Shoes, The Tales of Despereaux, One Night Only (music video), My Week with Marilyn, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Bling Ring, and Noah
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She’s a model. (Of course!)
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She attended and graduated from Brown University (Beauty AND Brains.) She graduated from Brown with an English Literature degree. She also was a “visitor student” at Worcester College, Oxford from 2011-2012.
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She’s a self-declared feminist. (If Hermione can do it, “We Can Do It!”)
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She promotes education for girls everywhere doing so by visiting Bangladesh and Zimbabwe.
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She is the empowering quote queen: “I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. […] What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder.”
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And finally, in July 2014, she was appointed as a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador.
WOW!
UN Women is a short way of saying, “United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women”. They are a branch of the United Nations, or a United Nations entity, working to empower women. On Wednesday, September 17th, Emma flew out to Uruguay to begin her first mission as a Goodwill Ambassador. She spoke to the Uruguayan Parliament urging them to begin to end the inequalities of women. She followed her platform of asking for a higher representation of women in politics. She wants to inspire men and boys to also understand the strife of women and act to end it.
Uruguay is gearing up for its elections with a national quota law that is new this year. Due to the quota law, there will be a guaranteed 30 percent women representation in the vote. Emma met with young female politicians. She worked with them at an event for activists to sign a petition calling for an extension of the “quota law”.
Only one in five parliamentarians are women. Only 18.5 percent of the United States Congress are women. Globally, politics are severely lacking women representation. In Uruguay, only 13.1 percent of Parliament are women.
Emma Watson was in the States on Saturday in New York City. She will be hosting an event at the UN headquarters. This event is for the HeforShe campaign. The hopes are for this event to be one of the largest events in the 21st century for the fight for gender equality. She also spoke about the assumptions of feminists/ feminism at this event. Emma stated that she was shocked to find that the general thought in society is that feminists are, “too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men, and unattractive”. She stressed that the fight for gender equality is not synonymous with man hating. “Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong… It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals.”
Emma Watson has become an incredible role model for girls across the world. She has proven that every single person can become exactly who he or she wants to be. The spotlight never changed her. Emma Watson was known for most of her childhood as Hermione Granger and she never let the Hermione lovers down. She continues to maintain a Hermione-esque persona whilst being her own person. The publicity can do nothing but good for this cause. With Emma joining our fight for gender equality, the possibilities are sky high. We can do it!