Emma Watson touts gender equality initiative at Davos

Emma Watson has given another powerful speech on gender equality at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, where she helped to launch the next phase of a campaign to encourage men and boys to join the struggle for equal rights.

The goodwill ambassador for UN Women urged young men to speak out when women are degraded, husbands to support wives to pursue their ambitions and businessmen who mentor women to share their experiences, Stuff.co.nz reported.

The 24-year-old actress said that since the HeforShe campaign began in September, it had received an outpouring of support from high-profile figures such as Hillary Clinton, Prince Harry and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

The 'Harry Potter' star added that she has had her breath taken away when a fan told her that since watching my speech, she has stopped herself being beaten up by her father.

The head of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said that a girl born this year will be 80 before she lives in a world of gender equality, unless business leaders shatter the glass ceiling, heads of state do more to protect women and young men stand up for equal rights,.

Mlambo-Ngcuka added that women alone cannot fight the deeply entrenched stereotypes in our society, but together men and women can turn the tide of inequality and the fight to end gender-based injustices has to be timebound as it cannot be an open-ended struggle.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that the world will not change until men think differently about their roles and what it means to be a man, adding people can do that most successfully when they enlist men to speak to other men.