We love Emma Watson, from studious Hermione to awesome gender equality activist, we’d love to sit down for a drink with her one day and pick her brain. Her Twitter account is pretty incredible anyway, but she’s been dropping some truth bombs in the form of shocking statistics about women in leadership.
Before she was 16 there was a website that counted down the days, hours and minutes until she was legal. After she gave her famous gender equality speech in 2014 there was another countdown website that suggested it would share nude photos of Emma once the clock ticked down to zero. She’s been targeted many times in a way male actors never would. In Hollywood, a famously and unashamedly male dominated industry that’s often described as offensively sexist, Emma’s fighting back.
On the 17th June, she shared this startling statistic with her Twitter followers:
‘Women account for 60% of college graduates but only 3% of leaders worldwide.’ @Dennis_Nally @HeforShe @UN_Women
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) June 17, 2015
As career girls, it shocked us that so many of the women in further education do not make it to the top position. Evidently it shocked Emma, too and she’s calling for change with her HeForShe campaign. Later on that morning, Emma shared another statistic that blew us away:
‘Women and girls also represent two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.’ @Dennis_Nally @HeforShe @UN_Women
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) June 17, 2015
These statistics might seem too distant to relate to. It’s often hard to swallow the fact that there are women and girls just like us out there in the world who have no education whatsoever, and those that are educated aren’t breaking into leadership roles often enough.
Emma’s Tweets highlight these startling facts and call on us all to help women and girls all over the world be educated, but also to help dash some of the stigma that’s holding back educated, bright young women from climbing to the top and becoming great leaders. If you feel like helping out, check out the HeForShe action kit!