“It’s about freedom.”
Emma Watson and her speech at the UN has really hit home with the vast majority of young women, especially on my campus. Very fairly so. And not just because she is standing up to help pave the way for women’s rights, but because she is focusing on what is really important – gender equality.
The issue of feminism isn’t feminism, in my opinion. It’s that society has taken this word and steered it away from what it really means, which is creating equality for men and women, and turned it into women wanting to become the superior race.
I’m a woman. I want gender equality. But I didn’t want to watch another speech where a woman stands up in front of everyone and stomps her foot and demands equal pay, rights, and for men to stop treating her like a piece of meat. Which we all obviously want. Obviously.
But what I wanted to see was some accountability. I wanted to see a speech where a woman said “Hey, men of the world, this sucks for us. And we think it probably sucks for you guys, too. You’re fathers, uncles, brothers. You’re not all that creep guy who sexualized us, or that manager that didn’t pay us fairly. You matter, too.”
And honestly, Ms. Watson’s speech delivered that. We as women want so much to be able to walk down the street without being yelled at. We want to not have to fight for that extra fifty cents that our male coworker makes although we’re equally qualified. We don’t want to have to worry about any of it. Especially who’s deciding things when it comes to our bodies. But what we really, really want is for men to be on board with us. We want to be able to feel open to asking our fathers, uncles, even our boyfriends, to be able to stand up with us and ask for equality.
Because that’s important. To everyone. And Ms. Watson’s He for She is perfect, because she’s giving EVERYONE an opportunity to stand up and speak, she is offering EQUALITY. Which is what feminism is. Which is what we want.
It’s what I want.
I definitely encourage anyone to watch the speech because equality isn’t something to be taken lightly. We strive for equality everyday within races, religions, and socioeconomic classes – and we really stand by that, we all believe that there should be equality in those sectors. Gender equality is just one of the many causes that we should stand up for and try our hardest to make changes to because in the years to come my generation will want to know that they have little to worry about when it comes to their daughters. I believe they’ll be happy with fighting to make changes because, in the long run, there will only be benefits for all of us – men and women.
There’s always going to be something we don’t agree on, which is common sense to realize. But if we can set aside superiority, we’d all be a lot closer to something really great.
x.
The Observer. 