E M M A WAT S O N O N F E M I N I S M B Y S U S I E A L M A N E I H

• Emma Watson, former Harry Potter star, has been widely recognized for her support for female empowerment.

• As a United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador, she represents the organization’s HeForShe Campaign, a movement that stresses the importance of equal rights advocacy amongst both genders.

• Last year, Emma Watson gave an incredibly empowering speech at the UN that went viral, inviting men around the globe to participate in women’s rights movements.

• In her speech, Ms. Watson stated, “‘I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too -- reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in so be a more true and complete version of themselves,” (The Huffington Post, 9 Great Quotes From Emma Watson).

• International Women’s Day, which took place earlier this year in March, inspired 24-year-old Watson to address how crucial it is for women and men to team up and fight for gender equality during a Facebook Q&A in London.

• Here are just some of the many powerful feminist thoughts she had…

“We’re never, ever, ever going to be able to fly as high unless we’re both in support of each other.”

“We need yin and yang. We need that balance. We need female representation.”

“The human race is like a bird and it needs both its wings to be able to fly. And, at the moment, one of its wings is clipped and we’re never going to be able to fly as high.”

“If you stand for equality, then you’re a feminist. Sorry to tell you, you’re a feminist.”

“It’s not about men saving women, and i think that’s a misunderstanding. Women are already in the club. We’re already in the club because it’s our movement. It’s not a men’s club. It’s an equality club for both genders.”

“Don’t let anyone tell you what you can or cannot do, or cannot achieve. Do. Not. Allow. It.”

“You’re not gonna get rid of me until I get to see an equal number of female prime ministers and presidents and CEOs, and more men that feel like it’s okay to express how they really feel about things. And more fathers that are present in their children’s lives. And until I see us all not policing and oppressing each other and not ostracizing each other. And when I live in a world where this isn’t a narrowly-defined definition of masculinity and femininity. I’m just not gonna go.”

And if those aren’t enough to get you going, read more about Ms. Watson’s inspiring statements throughout her interview in this article published by The Huffington Post.