Harry Potter star Emma Watson, 25 has just been honored as Campaigner of the Year during the Observer 2015 Ethical Awards thanks to her impressive work as the UN Goodwill Ambassador for the HeForShe campaign, which stands up for gender equality.
Watson was unable to attend the ceremony, but she did not pass up the chance to express her gratitude on her social media account. She wrote on Twitter, "Thank you @ObserverEthical for awarding me Campaigner of the Year! Honoured," she wrote. "I want to share this w every @HeForShe out there #ethical awards."
"Special thanks to the brilliant team at UN_Women and to @liviafirth who accepted the award on my behalf. #heforshe #ethicalawards," she added in a second tweet.
UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlamo-Ngcuka has nothing but high praises for the actress, who has done them proud with her role as the ambassadress for gender equality. "Her commitment to the issues that we work on at UN women multiplies our ability to engage more young people, who are key to advancing gender equality," she told the Observer.
When she was introduced as the ambassadress for the campaign last July, the actress' inspiring speech immediately went viral and earned her the respect of thousands of people.
"You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl?" she said in her speech. "And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. It's a good question and trust me I have been asking myself the same thing. I don't know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem. And I want to make it better."
She clarified that feminism does not automatically equate to "man-hating," since men play an important role in gender equality as well.
"I want men to take up this mantle," she said. "So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too - reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves."
Watson admitted that the fame she obtained starring as Hermione Granger in the "Harry Potter" series never really made sense for her until she took on the task to represent the UN for the HeForShe campaign. Her popularity as the brainy sorceress really helped raise the awareness for gender equality, and for that Watson is extremely grateful.
