September 2017 marked the third anniversary of Emma Watson’s now-famous HeForShe speech at UN Women. Delivered on September 20, 2014, her powerful oration will hold relevance for years.
Ms. Watson began her speech by coming straight to the point. She sought to project a sense of inclusion through her frequent use of pronouns such as ‘we’, ‘you’ and ‘your’. This created involvement among and engagement with the audience right from the outset.
Personal anecdotes were effectively deployed, as she recounted events from her childhood. In fact, her subsequent mention of the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing was a reiteration of the fact that no significant progress has been made in the sphere of gender equality for more than 20 years. We saw Ms. Watson bring out global problems with respect to gender equality through her personal experience. Through these references, she put across universal issues. The anecdote ended ideally, as she mentioned her male friends, ‘unable to express their feelings’. This was the first mention of the problems men face, and laid the foundation for her later elaboration on the subject.
Ms. Watson gave a detailed definition of feminism. Relevant statistics, sometimes chilling, were periodically included. This caused the audience to reflect on both the past and the future. Certain fields that were mentioned, such as secondary education, are very much pertinent to the United Nations. While her discourse was passionate, Ms. Watson established a strong, logical base for all that she said.
Another effective feature of the speech was her use of anaphora. She repeated ‘I think’, ‘If men’ and ‘Both men’ in different sections. These were always followed by one of the important ideas she was putting across — the fact that ‘no country in the world’ can claim gender equality, that men also do not have ‘the benefits of equality’, and that we must ‘perceive gender on a spectrum’. This was a particularly impactful aspect of her speech, ensuring that her key ideas stayed with the audience.
The instances where Ms. Watson directly addressed men — for instance in ‘Men, I would like to take this opportunity’ — also served to persuade. Her measured pauses were immaculately timed, allowing her points to sink in, while her impeccable enunciation played no less a role. The lucidity of the language used enabled the speech to reach out to all sections of society.
An unanticipated change in tone was seen when Ms. Watson brought up her fame as ‘this Harry Potter girl’. As she said, ‘All I know is that I care about this problem’, she equated herself with so many others across the world. She stressed on the need for a burning desire within us all if we must impart change.
Throughout the speech, Ms. Watson potently summarised crucial ideas. Perhaps the most impactful line was the one that encompassed the key idea of the campaign: ‘How can we affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?’
Similarly, ‘It’s about freedom’ was short in length, but massive in impact. She ended her speech with a motivational tone reiterating previously stated points — even ‘inadvertent feminists’ can ‘change the world’. Instead of making the task seem daunting, she stressed on how a change in mindset and attitude can go long way. Having so wonderfully used questions throughout her speech, it was only fitting that she ended with another open-ended one, urging the audience to look within.
In today’s world of social media, there are precious few who possess this art of rhetoric, of persuasion. There is something to learn for all of us here, an invitation to tread upon a new unexplored path in life.
tridib.b5@gmail.com
Published - October 29, 2017 12:15 am IST
