Emma Watson conjures Hillel at UN

We’re used to Emma Watson speaking magical spells like Alohomora or Wingardium Leviosa. But this past weekend the former Harry Potter-series actress used the wisdom of great Talmudic sage Rabbi Hillel in an impassioned speech on feminism at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

Although Watson did not mention the foremost Jewish teacher of first century BCE Palestine by name, she twice paraphrased his best-known saying toward the end of her address about the new “HeForShe” campaign aimed at galvanizing a billion men and boys to advocate for an end to global gender inequality.

Rabbi Hillel, known for his leniency and humanism, is quoted in the Mishna (Pirkei Avot 1:14) as having said: “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

Watson, a proud feminist invited her listeners to join her in the “HeForShe” movement and to ask themselves, “If not me, who? And if not now, when?”

The actress, a recent graduate of Brown University, was appointed earlier this year as Goodwill Ambassador for the UN’s gender-equality arm, UN Women.

In introducing the 24-year-old British actress, CNN journalist Wolf Blitzer said that she has already visited Zambia, Bangladesh and Uruguay in her role.

In her speech, Watson highlighted the fact that the term “feminism” has come unfairly under attack.

“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,” she said.

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

Having noticed sexism and gender assumptions at a young age, she makes no apologies for calling herself a feminist and fighting for the same rights and respect accorded to men.

‘Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive’

“Apparently I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and, unattractive,” she said. But that is not going to stop her.

Among the issues Watson is asking men, as well as women, to get involved with are equal access to education, equal pay for equal work, and a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body.

She also sees feminism as a movement that liberates men, that allows them to not have to live up to socially imposed standards of masculinity, and in turn to be more supportive of women.

“Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue too,” she said.

“Because to date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother’s… I’ve seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them look less ‘macho’… I’ve seen men made fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don’t have the benefits of equality either.”

Watson’s 12-minute speech may have amounted to her summing up the state of global gender inequality while standing on one foot, but her earnestness indicates that she might actually get something done.

She will need to do more than just wave a wand, but her dreams of equal rights for women may turn out not to merely be magical thinking.