EZ Shadow
Thumbnail of Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video

Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video

IntermediateBritish accentSpeech13 min

Shadow this video one sentence at a time: listen, say it back, and get a score for every word.

Hard words

The longest, least common words in this video. Say them slowly before you start.

Transcript: 109 sentences

Tap a sentence to start the drill right there.

  1. 0:00 And now let's turn to a young woman who has chosen to lend her voice to this very important solidarity movement.
  2. 0:07 She's a leading British actor, an advocate for gender equality in her own right.
  3. 0:11 She's been involved with a promotion of girl's education for several years.
  4. 0:16 As part of her humanitarian efforts she has visited Bangladesh, Zambia.
  5. 0:21 Recently returned as we just heard from Uruguay on her first mission with UN women.
  6. 0:28 Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to this stage our co-host and the UN Women's Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson.
  7. 0:36 *clapping* *handshakes*
  8. 0:47 *more clapping* *clapping dies down*
  9. 0:54 Your Excellencies, UN Secretary General, President of the General Assembly, Executive Director of UN Women, and distinguished guests.
  10. 1:09 Today, we are launching a campaign called HeForShe.
  11. 1:15 I am reaching out to you because we need your help.
  12. 1:20 We want to end gender inequality, and to do this we need everyone involved.
  13. 1:28 This is the first campaign of its kind at the UN.
  14. 1:32 We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for change.
  15. 1:39 And we don't just want to talk about it, we want to try to make sure that its tangible.
  16. 1:46 I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN women six months ago.
  17. 1:52 And the more I've spoken about feminism, the more I have realized that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man hating.
  18. 2:05 If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.
  19. 2:15 For the record, feminism by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
  20. 2:26 It is the theory of political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
  21. 2:35 I started questioning gender-based assumptions a long time ago.
  22. 2:39 When I was eight.
  23. 2:41 I was confused being called "bossy".
  24. 2:45 Because, I wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents.
  25. 2:50 But the boys were not.
  26. 2:53 When at fourteen, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the media.
  27. 2:59 When at fifteen, my girlfriends started dropping out of their beloved sports teams because they didn't want to appear "muscle-y".
  28. 3:07 When at eighteen, my male friends were unable to express their feelings.
  29. 3:15 I decided that I was a feminist.
  30. 3:18 And this seemed uncomplicated to me.
  31. 3:22 But my recent research has shown me that feminism has become an unpopular word.
  32. 3:31 Women are choosing not to identify as feminist.
  33. 3:38 Apparently, I am among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too strong
  34. 3:47 Too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men.
  35. 3:54 Unattractive even.
  36. 3:58 Why has the word become such an uncomfortable one?
  37. 4:06 I am from Britain and I think it is right that I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
  38. 4:14 I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body.
  39. 4:20 I think- *cut off by applause* *lots of clapping*
  40. 4:31 I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the policies and the decisions that will affect my life.
  41. 4:40 I think it is right that socially I am afforded the same respect as men.
  42. 4:49 But sadly, I can say that there is no one country in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
  43. 5:02 No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
  44. 5:10 These rights, I consider to be human rights.
  45. 5:14 But I am one of the lucky ones.
  46. 5:17 My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter.
  47. 5:26 My school did not limit me because I was a girl.
  48. 5:32 My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day.
  49. 5:40 These influences with the gender equality ambassadors, that made me who I am today.
  50. 5:48 They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists who are changing the world today.
  51. 5:55 We need more of those, and if you still hate the word it is not the word that is important.
  52. 6:04 It's the idea and the ambition behind it.
  53. 6:09 Because not all women have received the same rights that I have.
  54. 6:14 In fact, statistically very few have been.
  55. 6:22 In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women's rights.
  56. 6:29 Sadly many of the things that she wanted to change are still true today.
  57. 6:36 But what stood out for me the most, was that less than thirty percent of the audience were male.
  58. 6:46 How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited?
  59. 6:52 Or feel welcomed to participate in a conversation?
  60. 6:57 Men, I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation.
  61. 7:07 *really loud applause* *applause dies down*
  62. 7:18 Gender equality is your issue too.
  63. 7:24 Because to date, I have seen my father's role as a parent being valued less by society.
  64. 7:32 Despite my needing his presence as a child as much as my mother's.
  65. 7:37 I've seen young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a men or less of a man.
  66. 7:50 In fact, in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between twenty to forty-nine eclipsing road accidents, cancer, and coronary heart disease.
  67. 8:05 I've seen men made fragile and insecure by distorted sense of what constitutes male success.
  68. 8:14 Men don't have the benefits of equality either.
  69. 8:20 We don't often talk about men being imprisoned by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are.
  70. 8:28 And that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
  71. 8:36 If men don't have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won't feel compelled to be submissive.
  72. 8:45 If men don't have to control, women won't have to be controlled.
  73. 8:51 Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive.
  74. 8:55 Both men and women should feel free to be strong.
  75. 8:59 It is time that we all perceived gender on a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals.
  76. 9:08 If- *gets cutoff again* *clapping*
  77. 9:16 If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by who we are we can all be free-er.
  78. 9:25 And this is what HeForShe is about.
  79. 9:30 It's about freedom.
  80. 9:33 I want men to take up this mantle, so that their daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice.
  81. 9:40 But also so that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too.
  82. 9:46 We claim those parts of themselves they abandoned.
  83. 9:49 And in doing so, be a more true and complete version of themselves.
  84. 9:57 You might be thinking "Who is this Harry Potter girl?"
  85. 10:01 and "What is she doing speaking at the UN?"
  86. 10:04 and it's really good question.
  87. 10:06 I've been asking myself the same thing.
  88. 10:10 All I know is that I care about this problem and I want to make it better.
  89. 10:17 And having seen what I seen and given the chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.
  90. 10:27 Statesman Edmund Berke said "All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing."
  91. 10:40 In my nervousness for this speech and in my moments of doubt, I've told myself firmly:
  92. 10:50 "If not me, who?"
  93. 10:54 "If not now, when?"
  94. 10:58 If you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope that those words will be helpful.
  95. 11:08 Because, the reality is that if we do nothing it will take seventy-five years or for me to be nearly one-hundred before women can expect to be paid the same as men.
  96. 11:26 For the same work.
  97. 11:28 Fifteen-point-five million girls will be married in the next sixteen years as children.
  98. 11:36 And at current rates, it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls can have a secondary education.
  99. 11:49 If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier and for this I applaud you.
  100. 12:01 We are struggling for a uniting word but the good news is that we have a uniting movement.
  101. 12:10 It is called HeForShe.
  102. 12:14 I am inviting you to step forward, to be seen, and to ask yourself "If not me, who?"
  103. 12:26 "If not now, when?"
  104. 12:31 Thank you very very much.
  105. 12:32 *applause*
  106. 12:40 *standing ovation*
  107. 12:46 *claps*
  108. 13:09 What a beautiful beautiful speech--Ah--What a beautiful thought, Emma.
  109. 13:14 Pay attention.

More Intermediate videos