Gender equality is your issue too
同志社女子中学校

３年

林

里美

try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates forgender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure thatit’s tangible.
The more I have spoken about feminism the more I realized 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.
For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men andwomen should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political,economic and social equality of the sexes.”
Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?
I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid thesame as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to
make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women beinvolved on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I
think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men. But
sadly, I can say that there is no, one country in the world where women can
expect to receive these rights.
No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality.
These rights I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones.
And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important but theidea and the ambition behind it. Because not all women have been afforded
the same rights that I have.
In fact, statistically, very few have been.
In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’srights. Sadly, many of the things she wanted to change are still in reality
today.
But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 percent of her
audience were male.

25

中学生―Ｉ部門

Today we are launching a campaign called for “He For She.” We want toHow can we effect change in the world when only half of it is invited orfeel welcome to participate in the conversation?
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
中学生―Ｉ部門

by society despite my need of his presence as a child, as much as mymother’s.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes
but I can see that they are, and that when they are free, things will change
for women as a natural consequence.
If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won’t
feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t
have to be controlled.
I want men to take up this mantle. So that their daughters, sisters, andmothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons havepermission to be vulnerable and human too, reclaim those parts of themselves
they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version ofthemselves.
All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make itbetter. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the chance, I feel it is myduty to say something.
Because the reality is that if we do nothing it will take 75 years, or forme to be nearly a hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as
men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years
as children. And at current rates it won’t be until 2086 before all rural African
girls will be able to receive a secondary education.
If you believe in equality, I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen
and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

出典：UN WOMEN, Emma Watson: Gender equality is your issue too
www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-yourissue-too］

26