UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson has launched the next phase of the HeforShe campaign to promote gender equality and empower women and girls across the world.
Officially launched by at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last week, ‘Impact 10x10x10’ aims to move the campaign from its foundational stages as a commitment of support to one of concrete action and policy change. To do this, it places focus on leaders in governments, corporations and universities, and asks them to spend the next twelve months piloting possible strategies for improving gender equality.
Governments and corporations were chosen as two of the three pillars of the campaign based on information released by the 2014 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report about the vast gender inequalities that persist in both of these areas. Universities were chosen as the third pillar because the engagement of young men and women in the fight for gender equality is considered by the UN as the best opportunity to accelerate the push toward gender parity.
“Decide what your commitment is, make it public, and then please report back to us on your progress so that we can share you story. We want to support, guide and reinforce your efforts. Impact 10×10×10 is about concrete commitments to change, the visibility of thesecommitments and the measurability of them too,” Watson said at the campaign’s launch.
UN Women also announced a group of founding Champions who will lead imperatives set down by Impact 10x10x10. Representing the three pillars of the Impact campaign across the world, they include the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the President of Sierra Leone, the Prime Minister of Sweden, the CEO and Chairman of Unilever, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tupperware Brands Corporation and the Chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers International.
“The founding Champions from industry and Government will pave the way for others to join in, using the pilot initiatives to streamline decision-making on relevant and successful activities,” UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in Davos.
The HeforShe campaign has been gaining traction since Watson launched it in New York in September of 2014. At the launch, she made a powerful speech about the importance of gender equality that gained immediate and widespread global attention.
Since the launch in September, 1.2 billion people have used the HeforShe hashtag worldwide. 200,000 men from almost every country on earth have signed the UN commitment to promoting gender equality. When launching phase two of the campaign, Watson described the positive response she has received since the campaign began.
“The groundswell of response we have received in support for HeForShe tells us we are tapping into what the world wants: to be a part of change. Now we have to channel that energy into purposeful action,” she said.
“I’ve had my breath taken away when a fan told me that since watching my speech [in September] she has stopped herself being beaten up by her father. I’ve been stunned by the number of men in my life that have contacted me since my speech to tell me to keep going and that they want to make sure their daughter will still be alive in a world where women have parity, economically and politically.”
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon also described this overwhelming response at the launch of Impact 10x10x10: “HeForShe has signed up fathers who want to raise empowered daughters; leaders who know their societies will be stronger when there are as many women in parliament and in business as men; and ordinary people who are fed up with violence and discrimination against women – and want to be part of a global force for change.”