Your excellencies, UN Secretary-General, President of the General Assembly, executive director of UN Women, and distinguished guests. Today we are launching a campaign called “HeForShe.” I am reaching out to you because we need your help. This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN: we want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change. And we don't just want to talk about it, we want to try and make sure that it's tangible. I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women 6 months ago and the more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realized that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop. For the record, feminism by definition is: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
