Jun 1

Gloria Jun
Prof. Babcock
ENG137H Section 17
Rhetorical Analysis Essay: HeforShe Campaign
Emma Watson is seldom talked about without mention of her role as Hermione Granger
in the widely popular Harry Potter franchise. The daughter of two British lawyers, Watson grew
up in the United Kingdom and graduated from Brown University in the United States. Landing
the role of the studious young witch at the age of 10, the success of the eight films made Watson
become one of the most well-known young adults of her time. Along with her ten year run with
the Harry Potter franchise, Watson has also been a part of numerous other films such as Perks of
Being Wallflower, The Tale of Despereaux, and the upcoming live action Beauty and the Beast
movie.
However, on September 20, 2014, Watson stood at the UN Headquarters not as Emma
Watson the actress, but as Emma Watson, the Ambassador for UN Women Goodwill and the
spokesperson for the campaign HeforShe. The HeforShe campaign is an initiative started by UN
Women. The mission statement of the campaign is a solidarity movement for gender equality
developed by UN Women to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change for the
achievement of gender equality and womens rights.The campaign encourages them to speak out
and take action against inequalities faced by women and girls (UN Women). Through her use of
rhetoric and rhetorical strategies, Watson was able to move her audience and portray her view
that equality between the genders. She uses these strategies and rhetoric to also argue that the
solution to inequality can only be reached through the joint effort of both men and women.

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The audience this speech addressed the members of the UN, as well as those who
watched the speech on TV, online, and whom read the transcript and/or news about the speech.
Watson gives this speech to show her beliefs on feminism and her stance on gender equality and
inequality. This speech is given in context to introduce the He for She campaign that advocates
for the uprising of male feminists to combat inequality between the genders. Watson also strives
to lessen the animosity associated with the word feminist and feminism; of which animosity
derives from backlash from the public and the labeling of feminists as man-haters.
This speech argues pathos because feminism and the Feminist movement have been on
the upfront of social issues in this generation. During the presentation of her speech, Watson uses
tone and diction to appeal to the emotions of listeners. She raises the volume of her voice when
she wants to emphasize a point, enunciates key words in her arguments and pauses for effect.
These elements of her spoken speech make it easy to understand her points and the pauses give
room for applause which also adds to the pathos as it shows the support she is receiving in the
room. Watson says in her speech, I am reaching out to you because we need your help. This
statement extends the audience to anyone who is watching. The UN and Emma Watson are
asking you for your help. Watson is talking to those listening to her speech, asking them for their
help. She uses loaded words such as, too strong, too aggressive, isolating, anti-men and,
unattractive, (Emma) to describe the label she receives for identifying as a feminist. She also
uses words like fragile and insecure to describe a stereotype that consists of the masculinity or
the strength of men. These words appeals to pathos by showing these labels are meant in a
negative way rather than a positive one. They also show that the same negativity is shown on
both ends of the spectrum of the genders.

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Logos is shown in Emma Watsons speech through her use of statistics and facts. For
example, Watson speaks of Hillary Clintons 1995 speech in Beijing and how only 30 percent of
the audience had been male. This quote plays towards the logic of Watsons argument by
painting the picture of a speech with a crowd of 70 percent female listeners, trying to talk about
how to create equality, when there is not even equality in the gender ratio of the presentation.
Ive seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make
them look less machoin fact in the UK suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20-49
years of age; eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease (Emma). This
statement further strengthens Watsons argument that men have their own stigmas that contribute
to the inequality in the world. Watson also defines the word feminism in her speech as well, 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.
She presents this definition to back up her argument that feminists by definition are not manhaters and that her campaign was doing the opposite by inviting men to join their fight against
inequality. All of these examples appeal to logos by showing the research done behind the scenes
to reach the arguments that Watson reaches. She doesnt just wake up in the morning and decides
that she is a feminist, she does her research and gets the facts in order to present a clear and
concise argument that is believable and plausible.
Some watching Emma Watson at the time of this speech may have seemed to not have the
credibility, or ethos, to back up her argument. She states in her speech, You might be thinking
who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the UN. Its a good question
and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing. I dont 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 (Emma). Watson does

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not have a degree in womens studies, she publicly started identifying as a feminist very recently,
and she had been appointed as the ambassador of the UN Women Goodwill only 6 months prior.
Emma Watson saw a problem, and she wanted to change it. This adds to her credibility because it
shows that she potentially does not have ill intentions to her participation in the campaign. It also
helps her credibility because she represents the many women of this world who also do not have
education in women studies; women who are just like her and rely on the news, facts, stories and
other feminists to educate them on feminism and on women studies.
She also argues ethos when she states that she is a woman who has gone through many of
the stigmas she fights against. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the
media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because they didnt want
to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to express their feelings (Emma).
Her credibility is her experiences as well as witnessing many of her friends, male and female, go
through the hardships of inequality. In the actual delivery of her speech, Watson appeals to ethos
by talking in a clear manner that shows the practice she put in to her speech. She clearly had put
time and effort into her presentation which shows her dedication for the subject and how much it
takes priority in her life over her other responsibilities.
The Kairos of this speech comes at a time when feminism and anti-feminism campaigns
have been on the rise. Watson speaks of how younger women and girls are taught that feminism
is a negative label to have on oneself, and that women do not identify as feminist. Her speech is a
sort of call to action to bring those girls and women back on the side of feminism. This is a good
source of Kairos as well because Watsons fan base and following is by a younger audience. In
an interview, pop singer Taylor Swift praised Watson on her fight for feminism because it would
inspire young girls and help them understand feminism (Dockterman). Through her work at the

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UN and feminism, Watson will be able to make an impact on the Kairos of the feminist situation
by being a role model to those who look up to her and just to the public in general due to her
exposure to media.
Since her speech in 2014, Emma Watson and UN Women have been working hard to
make the changes that they have been striving for. Watson continues to stay as the spokeswoman
of the campaign and has since given many speeches around the globe about HeforShe. Her use of
rhetoric and rhetorical strategies has helped her in these speeches just as they helped her for her
speech in 2014. UN Women also continues to stay in the public by opening a YouTube channel
for the campaign that broadcasts many different people and many different aspects of the
campaigns in order to impact those watching.
In January of 2015, Emma Watson gave a speech at the World Economic Forum that
further explained the HeforShe campaign goals of empowering women and taking a stand
towards equality through a yearlong project that targets change within the government,
companies and universities (Gibson). Through the hard work of Watson, UN Women, and the
advocates for HeforShe, universities such as the University of Hong Kong, The University of
Leicester in the UK, Nagoya University in Japan, and more have committed to boosting female
enrollment, employment and opportunities in their institutions (Alter).
HeforShe has approximately 500,000 men pledged to the campaign from all over the
world. The campaign has also been able to rally many famous males to join in the HeforShe
campaign such as Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Simon Pegg, Douglas Booth, Forest Whitaker and
more. Support has also came in the form of female advocates such as Chloe Grace Moretz, Kate
Bosworth, Sophia Bush, Rashida Jones and others (16 Celebrities). Feminism and the equality
between the sexes has been a hot topic the last few decades. Hopefully in the next few decades,

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HeforShe, UN Women, and Emma Watson will be able to gain enough support and traction from
both males and females in order to change the world to equality for all.

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Work Cited
Alter, Charlotte. "Meet 10 Ceos And University Leaders Working For Gender Equality." Time.Com
(2015): N.PAG. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Dockterman, Eliana. "Taylor Swift Praises Emma Watson For Her UN Feminism Speech." Time.Com
(2014): 1. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
"Emma Watson at the HeForShe Campaign 2014 - Official UN Video." <i>YouTube</i>. YouTube, n.d.
Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
"Emma Watson: Gender Equality Is Your Issue Too." HeadQuarters. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
Gibson, Megan. "Emma Watson Launches New Sexism Initiative At Davos." Time.Com (2015): N.PAG.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2015.
UN Women. "He For She." ACTION KIT (2014): 3. Web.
"16 Celebs Behind #HeForShe Campaign." The Huffington Post UK. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.