HeForShe

HeForShe
Formation20 September 2014 (2014-09-20)
FounderUN Women
Key people
Parent organisation
UN Women
Websiteheforshe.org

HeForShe, often referred to as He for She, is a solidarity movement for the advancement of gender equality initiated by the United Nations. Grounded in the idea that gender inequality is an issue that affects all people, socially, economically and politically, HeForShe is a global effort that seeks to involve men and boys in achieving equality by taking action against negative gender stereotypes and behaviors.[2] Its logo represents the union of women and men working together to achieve gender equality, by joining together aspects of both the female and male symbols.[3]

Since its launch at the United Nations on 20 September 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, millions of men from around the world, including Heads of State, CEOs, and global luminaries, have committed to gender equality. On the HeForShe website, a geo-locating map records the global engagement of the movement through counting the number of men and women around the world who have taken a pledge for the HeForShe initiative, registering over 2.1 million online commitments worldwide.[4]

When launching the movement in September 2014, Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson delivered an address at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City, mainly focusing on the personal and professional motivation for establishing HeForShe.[5] The speech went viral and currently has 3.8 million views on YouTube.[6]

HeForShe illustrates the need for male allyship by pointing to studies that show 257 more years will be necessary to close the gender gap,[7] and that 95% of the world's CEOs and heads of states are men.[8][9] They argue the commitment of men with power and privilege can be a major factor for gender equality, and hope that the human stories as well as scalable, proven solutions will provide a roadmap to progress and help to shape the men's movement for gender equality.[10]

  1. ^ Monde, Chiderah (22 September 2014). "Emma Watson embraces feminism, introduces 'HeForShe' campaign in speech at UN meeting". New York Daily News. Retrieved 22 September 2014.
  2. ^ Emma Herman (3 October 2014). "Emma Watson's UN gender equality campaign is an invitation to men, too". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  3. ^ Brand New (1 October 2014). "Of Women and Men". Under Consideration. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  4. ^ "HeForShe". HeForShe.org. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  5. ^ "Emma Watson Gender equality is your issue too". UN Women.
  6. ^ "Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video". YouTube. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
  7. ^ World Economic Forum (16 December 2019). "Mind the 100 Year gap". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  8. ^ UN Women. "Facts and figures: Leadership and political participation". UN Women.
  9. ^ Emma Hichliffe (18 May 2020). "The number of female CEOs in the Fortune 500 hits an all-time record". Fortune. Retrieved 18 May 2020.
  10. ^ HeForShe (2019). "2019 Impact Report" (PDF). HeForShe. Retrieved 15 July 2019.