IMG: Flickr via UN Women
The United Nations’ UN Women branch recently launched the HeForShe Campaign, an initiative to end violence against women on a global level. HeForShe is a movement that focuses on encouraging men to stand up for the rights of women everywhere. Every day, women around the world face economic inequality, violence, sexual assault, and other injustices; HeForShe seeks to unify their male counterparts and encourage men to take accountability for these wrongdoings in hopes of putting an end to gender inequality.
According to UN Women, “It’s 2014 and women around the world are still being abused, objectified, and silenced. Yet, women are half of the world’s potential and every single one has the right to a life free from discrimination. Your voice is powerful – raise it to tell the world why equality for every woman and girl is worth fighting for.” The campaign’s launch video contains excerpts from prominent male actors and public figures, who plainly state the importance of gender equality.
Some of the male allies in the video include Antonio Banderas, Ban Ki-moon, and Matt Damon, who explains, “If you want to solve some of these huge, bigger problems of extreme poverty, you have to engage the women – they’re the ones who will get it done.” Beloved actor Sir Patrick Stewart has called global violence against women the “single greatest human rights violation of our generation,” and has gladly joined the HeForShe Campaign to encourage more men to stand up against gender inequality.
UN Women is an organization “dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.” It is “a global champion for women and girls [that] was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.” There are many other humanitarian organizations that have the best interests of women in mind, as well as other prominent humanitarians and philanthropists. Angelina Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt, Beyoncé, and the Clintons are just a handful of the remarkable people paving the way for universal female equality.
Learn more about HeForShe and UN Women by visiting www.heforshe.org.