[...]

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I'm among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It's the idea and the ambition behind it because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have. [...]

Retrieved from Emma Watson's Speech at the U.N.

[...]

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I'm among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It's the idea and the ambition behind it, because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have. [...]

Retrieved from Emma Watson's Speech at the U.N.

[...]

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I'm among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It's the idea and the ambition behind it, because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have. [...]

Retrieved from Emma Watson's Speech at the U.N.

[...]

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I'm among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It's the idea and the ambition behind it because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have. [...]

Retrieved from Emma Watson's Speech at the U.N.

[...]

For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.

I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didn't want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.

I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists. Apparently, I'm among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.

Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.

But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I consider to be human rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today. And we need more of those.

And if you still hate the word, it is not the word that is important. It's the idea and the ambition behind it, because not all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very few have. [...]

Retrieved from Emma Watson's Speech at the U.N.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.

Malala Yousafzai was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Pakistan. As a young girl, she demanded that girls should be allowed to receive an education, which resulted in the Taliban issuing a death threat against her.

After the Taliban began attacking girls' schools in Swat, Malala gave a speech whose title was, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” In early 2009, Yousafzai began blogging for the BBC about living under the Taliban's threats to deny her an education. Yousafzai continued to speak out about her right, and the right of all women, to an education.

She was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012, but survived. The shooting resulted in massive support for Yousafzai, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16^th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography “I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban”, which was released in October 2013.

At age 17, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In congratulating Yousafzai, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described her as “a brave and gentle advocate of peace who through the simple act of going to school became a global teacher”.

For her 18^th birthday on July 12, 2015, the young activist opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon. Its expenses were covered by the Malala Fund, and the school was designed to admit nearly 200 girls from the ages of 14 to 18. “Today on my first day as an adult, on behalf of the world's children, I demand we must invest in books instead of bullets,” Yousafzai spoke in one of the school's classrooms.