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HeForShe, often referred to as He for She, is a
solidarity ''Solidarity'' is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. It is based on class collaboration.''Merriam Webster'', http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio ...
movement for the advancement of
gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making; and the state of valuing d ...
, 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. 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. Since its launch at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, on 20 September 2014, by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...
and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador
Emma Watson Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and activist. Known for her roles in both blockbusters and independent films, as well as for her women's rights work, she has received a selection of accolades, includi ...
, 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. 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. The speech went viral and currently has 3.8 million views on YouTube. HeForShe points to studies showing that 257 more years will be necessary to close the gender gap, and that 95% of the world's CEOs and heads of states being men to illustrate the need for male allyship. They argue the commitment of men with power and privilege can be a major game-changer 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 robust men's movement for gender equality.


History

A special event was held to kick-start the HeForShe movement on 20 September 2014 at the
headquarters of the United Nations zh, 联合国总部大楼french: Siège des Nations uniesrussian: Штаб-квартира Организации Объединённых Наций es, Sede de las Naciones Unidas , image = Midtown Manhattan Skyline 004.jpg , im ...
in New York City. It was hosted by UN Women Goodwill Ambassador
Emma Watson Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is an English actress and activist. Known for her roles in both blockbusters and independent films, as well as for her women's rights work, she has received a selection of accolades, includi ...
, whose speech about her call to involve men and boys in promoting gender equality was widely circulated via social media. The video of the launch has over 11 million online views and there were 1.1 million #HeForShe tweets by more than 750,000 different users within two weeks. The launch was named by Twitter as a catalytic moment of 2014 and painted the hashtag on its wall in its HQ. At that event, UN Women made a call to mobilize the first 100,000 men in the movement, a goal successfully reached in just three days. Former United States President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, actor
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Americ ...
, singer
Harry Styles Harry Edward Styles (born 1 February 1994) is an English singer, songwriter, and actor. His musical career began in 2010 as a solo contestant on the British music competition series ''The X Factor (UK TV series), The X Factor''. Following hi ...
, and UN Secretary-General
António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...
are among some of the high-profile males featured on the site. , over 220 000 people have committed online in India, 200 000 in Rwanda, 170 000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 150 000 in the US and 130 000 in Mexico. HeForShe was launched by UN Women's Executive Director
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South Africa, South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secret ...
and led by her former Senior Advisor
Elizabeth Nyamayaro Elizabeth Nyamayaro (born August 15, 1975) is a political scientist and former senior advisor to Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director for UN Women. Nyamayaro is also the head of HeForShe, a movement founded by UN Women to empower all hu ...
until 2019. Since then, HeForShe has been led by Edward Wageni, former director of
Save The Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...
International Kenya.


Initiatives


Global Leaders as role models

On 23 January 2015,
UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...
launched the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 initiative to gain further momentum in advancing gender equality and women's empowerment at the 2015
World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
in Davos. The HeForShe Champions initiative is a unique ecosystem that engages 10 world leaders, 10 global CEOs and 10 university presidents to address some of today's most pressing gender issues. Each Champion has made three specific, measurable and transformative commitments towards achieving gender equality. The unwavering commitment of the HeForShe Champions is providing the leadership needed to reach the goal of gender equality in society. Global leaders serving as the founding champions include former H.E. President
Ernest Bai Koroma Ernest Bai Koroma (born 2 October 1953) is a Sierra Leone, Sierra Leonean politician who served as the fourth President of Sierra Leone from 17 September 2007 to 4 April 2018. Born and raised in Makeni in northern Sierra Leone, Koroma spent mo ...
of
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
; H.E. Prime Minister Stefan Löfvén of
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
;
Paul Polman Paulus Gerardus Josephus Maria Polman, (born 11 July 1956) is a Dutch businessman and author. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of the British consumer goods company Unilever. Polman is also the author of ''Net Positive: How Courageous Co ...
, former CEO of
Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...
;
Rick Goings Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...
, former chairman and CEO of
Tupperware Brands Corporation Tupperware Brands Corporation, formerly Tupperware Corporation, is an American multinational company that produces home product lines that includes kitchen gadgets, preparation, storage containers, and serving products for the kitchen and home. ...
. In 2016, the Thematic Champions initiative was launched to engage further global leaders, who make gender equality an institutional priority by implementing one bold, game-changing commitments to advance and achieve gender equality. As of July 2020, the Thematic Champions included
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
, PM from
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
;
Jean-Laurent Bonnafé Jean-Laurent Bonnafé (born 14 July 1961) has been serving as chief executive officer of BNP Paribas since 2011. Early life and education The son of an Électricité de France (EDF) electrical engineer and a lawyer in Albi, Bonnafé attended the L ...
, CEO of
BNP Paribas BNP Paribas is a French international banking group, founded in 2000 from the merger between Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP, "National Bank of Paris") and Paribas, formerly known as the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas. The full name of the grou ...
; Bruce Cleaver, CEO from
De Beers Group De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...
. As part of these initiatives, HeForShe has been holding an annual summit since 2015, where global HeForShe Champions from both initiatives and other high-profile people present their gender equality solutions to the world. While the HeForShe 2019 Impact Report found that there is still a wage gap between men and women, business, universities, and other entities that participate in the initiative have contributed to a dynamic shift in gender parity in terms of representation in senior leadership positions.


Parity in Global Leadership

The HeForShe Proven Solution on How to Achieve Parity in Global Leadership was produced as several HeForShe Champions' organisations including Price Waterhouse Coppers,
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
,
McKinsey & Company McKinsey & Company is a global management consulting firm founded in 1926 by University of Chicago professor James O. McKinsey, that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. McKinsey is the oldest and ...
whom all have increased female representation in their global leadership team, setting out a roadmap for other organizations.


Emerging Solutions for Gender Equality

The annual HeForShe Emerging Solutions for Gender Equality Report contains concrete emerging solutions on how to achieve gender equality. These solutions address a wide range of issues, including closing the gender pay gap, ending gender-based and sexual violence, and achieving parity across society.


Male Allies Guide

The HeForShe Male Allies Guide for Gender Equality – Tips for Understanding and Managing Your Emotions, was built on a programme pioneered by the Government of Finland, a HeForShe IMPACT Champion, to enlist army conscripts to prevent violence against women.


Inspiring Individual and Community Action


Campaigns

To raise awareness on gender equality challenges such as mental load, gender-based violence and discrimination, and to engage men in the conversation, HeForShe holds on a regular basis campaigns on social media alongside the in-person global campaigns. These include What We Share Is More Powerful Than What Divides Us, #MorePowerfulTogether, #YearOfMaleAllyship and #HeForSheAtHome.


=#MorePowerfulTogether

= Launched in September 2018, the #MorePowerfulTogether campaign invited landmarks around the world, most notably The
Empire State Building The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
in New York City, the
Burj Khalifa The Burj Khalifa (; ar, برج خليفة, , Khalifa Tower), known as the Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration in 2010, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It is known for being the world’s tallest building. With a total height ...
in Dubai, and the
CN Tower The CN Tower (french: Tour CN) is a concrete communications and observation tower in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Built on the former Railway Lands, it was completed in 1976. Its name "CN" referred to Canadian National, the railway c ...
in Toronto, to turn off half their lights to demonstrate the power lost when women are underrepresented from society, economies and communities.


=#HeForSheAtHome

= As a response to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, as gender inequalities, particularly of women in the home, became increasingly apparent when it comes to housework, cleaning and caring for children, the sick or the elderly, HeForShe launched the #HeForSheAtHome campaign to inspire men to help balance the burden in their households. In sharing the stories of positive male role models sharing the work at home from all over the world, #HeForSheAtHome seeks to inspire many more to do their fair share and to reduce women's mental load.


Country-level initiatives

The success of HeForShe can be seen through the Civil Society's numerous and impactful actions worldwide. HeForShe Taverns have been set up throughout South Africa to initiate conversations with men about engaging with women without being abusive in taverns, as they are mostly men-dominated. Further HeForShe Equality Stories include boys and men cycling through rural India to shift positively traditional gender norms, and boys and men redefining masculinity in Jordan. Students engage very much, as a #GetFree tour was organised throughout universities to initiative gender equality ideas in North America, and over 100 HeForShe student clubs are active worldwide. The Civil Society is able to engage via the online HeForShe Action Kit.


HeForShe in Sports

HeForShe has been partnering with numerous organisations to advance gender equality in sports, including the Valencia Club de Fútbol (CF), one of Europe's major football teams and Fenerbahçe Sports Club, one of Turkey's most popular sports club. The HeForShe Champions also engage by raising awareness on gender equality through their own sports events such as the
Danone Nations Cup The Danone Nations Cup is a football tournament for children between the ages of 10 and 12 (U12s category); it is organized every year since 2000 on the initiative of Groupe Danone. and the BNP Paribas Tennis Open.


HeForShe Alliance

On September 23, 2021, HeForShe announced the launch of the HeForShe Alliance, signifying a new era of commitment to action following the footsteps of the Generation Equality Forum. New Members From Business: Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, Yannick Bolloré, Chairman of Vivendi’s Supervisory Board and CEO and Chairman of
Havas Havas SA is a French multinational advertising and public relations company, headquartered in Paris, France. It operates in more than 100 countries and is one of the largest advertising and communications groups in the world. Havas consists of ...
Group, John A. Zecca, Global Chief Legal & Regulatory Officer, Nasdaq, Bob Sternfels, Global Managing Partner, McKinsey & Company, Bob Moritz, Global Chairman, PwC International Limited and Nick Read, CEO, Vodafone. From Non-profit: Robert Mardini, Director-General,
International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
, David Miliband, CEO & President,
International Rescue Committee The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 19 ...
, David Haggerty, President, International Tennis Federation, Kate Robertson & David Jones, Founders,
One Young World 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
. From Academia: Dr. Wayne A. I. Frederick, President,
Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...
and Ilian Mihov, Dean, INSEAD.


Criticism


Rhetorical Criticism

The rhetoric around violence and inequality against women, specifically in instances of assault, has many activists claiming that the responsibility is shifted from perpetrator to victim. Watson's speech focuses on the way men can play an active role in advancing political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. Watson's speech was criticized for focusing only on women and ignoring sexist biases against men and reinforce the very inequality it is trying to erase. Watson's heavy emphasis on women's dependence on men's support lead to criticisms that HeForShe grants men the leading role in the campaign, reinforcing and perpetuating gender inequality.


Feminist Criticism

Although HeForShe has actively represented LGBTQ+ issues alongside sister campaign
United Nations Free & Equal United Nations Free & Equal is a global public information campaign led by the United Nations Human Rights Office. The campaign advances equal rights and fair treatment for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, and intersex (LGBTI) individuals around the world ...
, some have expressed concerns that the name of the movement leaves behind
non-binary Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
,
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
, and
genderqueer Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typically ...
individuals, and reinforcement of the
gender binary The gender binary (also known as gender binarism) is the classification of gender into two distinct, opposite forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender bina ...
. Watson was also criticized by other feminists for being privileged, wealthy, and white, yet speaking on behalf of women who do not fit into that category. More criticism by feminists followed after Watson delivered her speech. One criticism, published in ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', was due to the name of the campaign, HeForShe, and Watson asking men to pledge to take action against all forms of violence and discrimination faced by women and girls, yet without elaborating on the problems affecting men and boys. The name of the campaign was also criticized due to the implication that men should not care about feminism because it may improve things for them, but rather, they should care about feminism because it will improve things for women, and that men were being painted as the saviors of women.


Response to criticism

In an interview with ''
Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...
'', Watson responded to the criticisms of other feminists, stating that "It's difficult to hear criticism from people you consider your peers and who you believe are on the same side.". She responded by saying that the term "feminism" has become more associated with "man-hating" than gender equality and further states that gender inequality affects both men and women due to gender stereotypes and that it is a
human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
issue. Watson also asserts that the HeforShe campaign will strengthen the feminist cause by involving both women and men around the globe in advocating for gender equality.


See also

*
Women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...
*
UN Women The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a United Nations entity working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. UN Women advocates for the rights of women and girls, and focu ...


References


External links

* {{Official website, http://www.heforshe.org/
UN Women

Emma Watson HeForShe Speech at the United Nations , UN Women 2014

''TEDWoman 2015: Elizabeth Nyamayaro: An Invitation To Men Who Want A Better World For Women''
Women's rights United Nations Development Group Emma Watson