IMAGE Business Club members on the small habits that have improved their productivity
IMAGE Business Club members on the small habits that have improved their productivity

Sarah Finnan

Tried & Tested: IMAGE staff shares their favourite hydration hero
Tried & Tested: IMAGE staff shares their favourite hydration hero

IMAGE

Weekend Guide: 9 of the best events happening across Ireland
Weekend Guide: 9 of the best events happening across Ireland

Sarah Gill

Co-founder of the Hygiene Hub Ciára Dalton: ‘I wanted to make a tangible difference’
Co-founder of the Hygiene Hub Ciára Dalton: ‘I wanted to make a tangible difference’

Sarah Finnan

Winter wreaths you can use year after year
Winter wreaths you can use year after year

Megan Burns

There’s a new hydration mist on the market, and it didn’t come to play
There’s a new hydration mist on the market, and it didn’t come to play

IMAGE

Long live Irish shopping: inside Irish boutiques
Long live Irish shopping: inside Irish boutiques

Sarah Finnan

Dr Caroline West’s guide to talking to your teenagers about consent
Dr Caroline West’s guide to talking to your teenagers about consent

Megan Burns

This Art Deco Donnybrook house has been adapted for multi-generational living
This Art Deco Donnybrook house has been adapted for multi-generational living

Megan Burns

Havana Boutique owner Nikki Creedon on subversive monochrome
Havana Boutique owner Nikki Creedon on subversive monochrome

Suzie Coen

Image / Editorial

Emma Watson UN Speech Inspires


By Jeanne Sutton
22nd Sep 2014
Emma Watson UN Speech Inspires

Emma Watson on the red carpet.

Emma Watson is one of our favourite people. The young English actress has been an inspirational force of late, balancing her acting career, creative pursuits (she guest-edited indie-mag Wonderland last Spring) and humanitarian interests with a mature and always engaging aplomb. When the 24-year-old was announced as a U.N. Women global goodwill ambassador the organisation’s site crashed, according to Vanity Fair. Watson immediately set about using her high-profile position for good, taking on the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc when he said a woman laughing was incompatible with being chaste. The Noah actress posted a photo on social media of her bent over in laughter, joining hundreds of Turkish women also miffed that a politician could vocalise such antiquarian beliefs.

However, this speech she gave over the weekend as an advocate for U.N. Women’s HeForShe campaign which calls on men and boys’ solidarity to help acheive women’s equality may be her finest moment yet, ?Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too. Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence, as a child, as much as my mother’s.? She talks about the shocking statistics surrounding male suicide and how men are also suffering from the confining expectations of gender stereotypes. “It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals,” she said.

Emma Watson.

Watson starts out explaining how her UN role has glavanised her belief in equality, noting ?the more I’ve spoken about feminism, the more I have realised that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.? She then goes on to dismiss the man-hating and argressive label that is often thrown at feminists, ?For the record, feminism, by definition, is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes. I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago.? The whole speech is really something else and should be compulsory viewing in schools/offices/living rooms across the country.

Have a watch and get ready for an empowering Monday, ladies and gentlemen.

Follow Jeanne Sutton on Twitter @jeannedesutun