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Emma Watson gender equality speech essay
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Emma watsons gender equality speech summarized
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In the fight for gender equality, men are a necessary part of the battle but many are not willing to take part in the cause. Emma Watson, Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women, delivered a speech at United Nations Headquarters in 2014, announcing the new campaign called HeForShe that invited men to join the conversation of gender equality. Watson begins building her credibility by discussing her experience with gender inequality and sexism, she also successfully uses emotional appeals by discussing examples of specific accounts where she was the subject of gender inequality, while also appealing to logic with facts, statistics, and other evidence. Watson’s argument and call to action within her speech are strong because of her credibility, emotional appeals, and logic.
Watson begins her speech by describing the HeForShe campaign. She states, “...We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender
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equality,” (United Nations, 2014). After describing the basic premise of the campaign, Watson goes on to state that feminism and gender equality has become synonymous with man-hating and she believes that this needs to stop. She then gives the formal definition for feminism, which does not state anything hating men. Watson then gives specific examples of how she has experienced gender inequality in her own life and how she decided she was a feminist early on in her life. Throughout the speech Watson continues to use specific examples of gender inequality that she, or those close to her, have experienced. She also discusses how people in her life have been inadvertent feminists that have changed the world and that today’s society needs more people like those. Later in the speech Watson proposes a solution to the problem of gender inequality - that men need to become involved in the sexism conversation to be set free from gender stereotypes because once they are things will change for women as a natural consequence. Watson is a British woman, and at the time she delivered the speech she was 24 years old. She has obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from Brown University. It is inferred that Watson is a more Liberal-minded person based her comments surrounding previous elections. In July 2014, Watson was appointed UN Women Goodwill Ambassador. Before becoming a Goodwill Ambassador, Watson was involved in various girls’ education programs in Bangladesh and Zambia, promoted fair trade and organic clothing, as well as served as an ambassador for Camfed International (an organization to educate girls in Africa) (UN Women, n.d., para. 2). Her background helps her case when delivering this speech as she has become known with promoting gender equality and feminism. This speech was created to be given at the United Nations Headquarters and intended for two audiences. The first audience was the United Nations formal audience. This audience is the in-person audience that was there for the speech. However, there was another audience that this speech was intended for as well - the larger public. It was clearly known that this speech would be recorded and posted on the official United Nations social media pages. Watson was aware that thousands of people would watch and listen to her speech. Watson’s speech had two purposes - to inform and a call to action. The first purpose, to inform, was simply to inform the audience of the HeForShe campaign. The second purpose is the more important of the two purposes - a call to action for males to stand together with women for gender equality. This purpose is evident through the words Watson uses. One example of how the purpose is inferred is her statement, “We want to end gender inequality - and to do this we need everyone involved. ...We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality,” (United Nations, 2014). These quotes show how the purpose of the speech is a specific call to action purpose. Throughout the speech, Watson uses various rhetorical devices to further persuade the listeners.
One rhetorical Watson deploys multiple times throughout her speech is repetition. The first time she uses repetition is when she gives specific examples of when she began to question gender-based stereotypes. She begins each example with, “When I was…” This helps Watson to emphasize her point. Another rhetorical device that Watson utilizes in her speech is her serious tone. This tone aids Watson in make the audience understand how the topic is a serious and weighty one. While her tone is serious, she does lighten her tone at some points in the speech and even laughs which keeps the audience engaged. Watson also uses rhetorical questions multiple times throughout her delivery to create emphasis. One of the rhetorical questions she uses is when she is discussing the word ‘feminism’ and she then says, “Why is the word such an uncomfortable one?” (United Nations, 2014). These rhetorical devices help her prove her point and persuade her
audience. Watson begins the speech by building her credibility. Watson starts building her ethos by stating that she was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador six months ago and has spoken about and researched feminism extensively. This helps the audience to understand that she is well-versed and knowledgeable on the subject. Watson understands that the audience might not trust her as later on the speech she states, “You might be thinking ‘Who is this Harry Potter girl?’ and ‘What is she doing speaking at the UN?’...All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to make it better,” (United Nations, 2014). This helps to build her credibility to the audience because they understand that Watson is passionate and dedicated to this cause. While Watson does use emotional appeal throughout the speech, it is not the main appeal that she uses. The way that she uses pathos is by describing the specific accounts of gender inequality she has experienced. An example of how she uses pathos is when she says, “When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports team because they didn’t want to appear ‘muscle-y’,” (United Nations, 2014) These examples are used to bring out emotions in the audience. While Watson does use pathos throughout the speech, the main appeal that Watson uses is logos. The appeal that Watson uses primarily throughout her speech is logos. She appeals to the audience’s logic by using facts and data throughout. Providing this data to this type of formal, academically-influenced audience helps Watson’s point. An example of how Watson uses logos is when she states, “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,” (United Nations, 2014). These statistics and facts help Watson prove her point and persuade the larger audience to take part in the campaign. Watson’s speech at the United Nations Headquarters to announce the HeForShe campaign is a highly persuasive one. Watson uses the three rhetorical appeals, ethos, pathos and logos, but primarily uses logos and ethos to prove her point and persuade her audience. Watson also uses rhetorical devices that she hopes will further persuade her audience. In conclusion, Watson’s speech is persuasive because of her knowledge of the subject and ability to convey that through rhetorical appeals. References United Nations. [unitednations]. (2014, September 22). Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video [Video file]. Retrieved January 23, 2018, from https://youtu.be/gkjW9PZBRfk UN Women. (n.d.). UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson. Retrieved February 1, 2018, from http://www.unwomen.org/en/partnerships/goodwill-ambassadors/emma-watson
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