un women

As you probably know by now, earlier this week actress Emma Watson, who also holds the title of UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, made a speech at the UN about a new project she is spearheading, known as He For She. It’s a gender equality campaign that focuses on showing men how and why they should be part of the feminist movement.

Watson’s speech was poignant and widely praised, and rightfully so. It’s not often that you hear people – even celebrities – stand up and say out loud that we have a serious gender inequality problem and that men need to step up and help us fix it.

While it was a great step though, it had its share of flaws. Pointing out those flaws isn’t an indictment of Watson, it doesn’t invalidate the good she’s doing. Voices from the communities that she glossed over or didn’t mention speaking out to remind her that they’re here and they’ve been saying what she’s saying for years is not oneupsmanship; it’s accountability.

So in that vein, for this week’s Feminist Friday, I’m linking to a great piece on Black Girl Dangerous that explains why not everyone was so enamored by Watson’s speech. One important point, for example, is that feminists have been trying to convince men to care about gender equality for a long time, and there’s a reason many don’t focus on “what feminism can do for you!”

I’ve seen a lot of interesting conversations since the speech went viral about whether or not this strategy of appealing to men by literally “inviting” them is a good one. I don’t have an answer, but I think the more diverse voices we hear on this the better. So, to balance out all of the media praise, give yourself a dose of critique from Black Girl Dangerous and these other blog posts.