Have You Heard About HeForShe

You know, feminism hasn't been something that I've felt strongly about before. I've never needed to because that fight was fought for me and I have benefited from the results of past feminist movements. I've been privileged enough to be brought up in an environment where I was not limited because of my sex. I went to a school that encouraged women to be strong and independent and go-getters. I didn't have to fight to study an engineering degree. I worked in the maintenance department of a factory and I was lucky enough to never have been made to feel that my femaleness was a disadvantage, instead I became the in-house "expert" on some of our systems.

However, I recently watched Emma Watson give a talk on a campaign that UN Women have launched, called HeForShe. It struck a chord with me and has made me think. It has made me think so many thoughts that I can't even begin to pin them down in one post. Instead, like Emma, I am going to appeal to you - my readers, my friends, my family, male, female, young, old. To sign up for this campaign and start taking ALL gender inequality seriously. (In the mean time, I will carry on ordering my thoughts so that I can share them with you when I've figured them out!)

To find out more, watch Emma's speech below. 

Finally, now that you've watched Emma's speech, I am going to use the words of my friend Claire, who has summed this up much better than me:

"So if you haven't already, head along to the HeforShe website and sign up. Or don't. But do take a look at the awesome map. So far only 494* men from South Africa have signed up. Yes, many people don't have internet access, and yes, many men do not want to be spammed with emails, but this is not just for women. It's for equality. Something definitely worth being spammed for."

* This was up to 555 by the time I had signed up. Hopefully it's grown even more by the time you read this!