I am from Britain and think it is right that as a woman I am paid the same as my male counterparts.
think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about my own body. I think it is right that women
be 8.).
on my behalf in the policies and decision-making of my country. I think it is right that
9.)_
I am afforded the same respect as men. But sadly, I can say that there is no one country
in the world where all women can expect to receive these rights.
No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality.
These rights I consider to be 10.)
rights but I am one of the lucky ones. My life is a sheer
privilege because my parents didn't love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not
11.)
me because I was a girl. My mentors didn' t assume I would go less far because I
might give birth to a child one day. These influencers were the gender equality ambassadors that made
me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the 12.).
feminists who are changing
the world today. And we need more of those.
And if you still hate the word- it is not the word that is important but the idea and the ambition behind it
Because not all women have been afforded the same rights that I have. In fact, statistically, very few
have been.
In 1997, Hilary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women's rights. Sadly, many of the
things she wanted to change are still 13.).
today.
But what stood out for me the most was that only 30 per cent of her audience were male. How can we
affect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the
conversation?
Men-I would like to take this opportunity to extend your formal 14.)
your issue too.
Gender equality is
Because to date, I've seen my father' s role as a parent being valued less by society despite my
needing his presence as a child as much as my mother' s.
I've seen young men suffering from mental illness unable to ask for help for fear it would make them
look less 15.),
"- in 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. I've seen men made fragile and
insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men don' t have the benefits of
equality either.
We don' t often talk about men being imprisoned by gender 16.).
but I can see that that they
are and that when they are free, things will change for women as a natural consequence.
If men don' t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted women won' t feel compelled to be 17.)
If men don' t have to control, women won' t have to be controlled.
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