January 21, 2016
UN Women launches new gender-inclusive HeForShe website
Women, transgender people and others who are non-gender binary can now pledge support online to the revamped campaign for gender equity
Women, men, transgender people and others who don’t identify as either men or women can now pledge their support for the HeForShe campaign on a revised website that enables greater involvement for everyone regardless of gender identity.
The campaign, launched in 2014 by British actor Emma Watson, was originally designed to engage men in the gender equity movement. The University of Waterloo is a HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 champion, part of a select group of businesses, governments and academic institutions leading change globally.
However, based on feedback the UN received from its HeForShe IMPACT champions, the revised website acknowledges that gender occurs on a spectrum and the campaign wants everyone, regardless of their gender identity, to pledge their support online and create change.
“The revised website recognizes the growth of the campaign,” says Diana Parry, a professor and Special Advisor on Women’s and Gender Issues to Feridun Hamdullahpur, Waterloo’s president and vice-chancellor. “The campaign was originally meant to draw in those who had never thought about gender equity. Now, one year into the campaign, UN Women recognizes it also needs to engage people with a more nuanced understanding of the issues.”
Emma Watson praises Waterloo
Emma Watson announced the launch of the new website in a video, and commended Waterloo for establishing scholarships for young women. The scholarship program is part of Waterloo’s ongoing efforts to achieve gender equity in academic programs that have traditionally been male dominated. They will be awarded to 24 young women over the next four years for a total of $288,000.
“When people have come up with their own solutions organically, there’s been some amazing things that have happened,” said Watson. “We’ve had the University of Waterloo who decided that they were going to give scholarships for girls . . . which has been amazing.”
Waterloo's HeForShe scholarship recipients: (left to right) Sarah Muth, Zhuo Yu, Joyce (Anqi) Yang, Jenny Ma, Anya Forestell, and Sally Hui.
Waterloo’s other HeForShe commitments include boosting female participation in STEM outreach programs, enhancing female Faculty representation and attracting more female leaders to academic and senior leadership positions by 2020.
The faces profiled on the new HeForShe site, displaying only half of each person, signify the need to work together as a whole – regardless of identity. Even the HeForShe logo, which is an amalgamation of the symbols for women and men, reinforces the need for solidarity no matter how you choose to identify yourself.
“We are one; what connects us is actually more significant than what divides us,” said Watson in the video.
