By Megan Bronner
Emma Watson spoke to the press about the successes and shortcomings of the past two years of HeForShe. (Courtesy of Flickr)
Just over two years ago, United Nations Women launched HeForShe, a gender solidarity campaign, at the United Nations Headquarters. UN Goodwill Ambassador and actress Emma Watson, who serves as the face of the movement, has propelled the popularity of the campaign. The campaign’s goal is to encourage men and boys to become agents for change by recognizing and fighting against the inequalities that women face around the world. On the HeForShe website, men can sign the pledge to help fight for gender equality and play an active role in treating men and women as equals in all aspects of life.
Two years after the debut of the campaign by Emma Watson at the UN General Assembly, HeForShe became widely popular and well-known for the use of social media to spread awareness. Celebrity support also helped the campaign gain momentum. The success did not come without bumps in the road. The HeForShe campaign set a goal for one million men to take the pledge on the HeForShe website by July 2015, but the campaign failed to meet this goal.
In the early stages, the initiative has seen success and support while continuing the fight for gender equality. There has been an outpouring of support from men across the world who write letters to the campaign asking how they can make a difference. There are also many large corporations that have vowed to make institutional changes, such as closing the pay gap within their companies. Two weeks ago, Emma Watson returned to the General Assembly and delivered another powerful speech that launched the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity report.
The initiative, launched in January 2015, brings together 10 heads of state, 10 global CEOs and 10 university presidents to prioritize gender equality in the office, on campus and in world capitals. In her speech, Emma Watson called on universities across the world to address the issues of sexual violence on campus, as well as equal pay and representation at the administration level.
She stated that universities should be a safe space for all students. She said, “A university should be a place of refuge that takes action against all forms of violence.” Watson’s speech emphasized the problem of on-campus sexual assault. She maintained that through education and taking the right course of action when sexual assault cases are presented to universities, they can truly be the safe haven that students expect and have a right to. The 10 IMPACT universities are located in eight countries on five continents, two of which are in the United States: Georgetown University and Stony Brook University.
According to the HeForShe website, three of the imbalances that universities can address are: the ratio of men to women in university faculty and senior administrative positions, the fields of study selected by young women versus young men and the number of female students at universities compared to their equal access to academic and professional career tracks. These universities have publicly announced their commitment to gender equality in academia by 2020.
Even though they have not formally committed, Fordham has its own HeForShe’s.
Dean Rodgers is involved in sharing information about the university’s Title IX policies regarding sexual offenses, disseminating the CARE brochure providing information to students about on-campus sexual assault. Fordham’s policy against sexual assault is one of zero tolerance: “the University will not tolerate sexual offenses such as rape, sexual abuse, sexual harassment or other forms of non-consensual activity, including stalking and/or domestic violence or dating violence, sexual exploitation and other sexual misconduct.” The full policy is on Fordham’s wesite.
In addition, past emails from Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, show direct action he at the helm of the university has taken with regards to sexual assaults. For example, earlier this year, Fordham removed a former swim coach from the Hall of Fame after the university learned he has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct. In other letters to our community, McShane said that the university takes all accusations of sexual assault and misconduct seriously, and is devoted to creating the safest community possible.
The idea of men standing up for women’s equality did not originate with Watson, but she has taken strides to perpetuate the mission across the world. This is a mission colleges such as ours have proven to be receptive to when given the opportunity to confront inequality.
