By Claire Bernstein, JCADA AWARE Educator, and Erynn Penn, JCADA Intern
Who should be involved in the fight for gender
equality? Should men, women, or both care about this issue?
Last month, Emma Watson provided
her answers to these questions when she spoke at the United Nations about the launch
of a new campaign for gender equality, HeForShe. In her speech, Watson explained that the goal
of this campaign is “to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to
be advocates for gender equality.”
Directing her message to a male audience, Watson stated, “Men—I would like
to take this opportunity to extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is
your issue too.” Since then, her speech has stimulated conversations worldwide about
the importance of including men in education and advocacy efforts about women’s
rights, gender equality, and violence against women. In addition, the recent
spotlight on the NFL and its handling of cases of domestic violence has
prompted some people to highlight how both male and female athletes can be
involved in helping to end domestic violence.
For our AWARE workshops, we
include young men and boys in our programs because we agree with Watson’s
message and believe in the power of both men and women to end dating violence
and promote healthy relationships. In order to create social change, everyone
needs to be educated about how dating abuse and unhealthy friendships impact
individuals and our society.
In our workshop, It’s Not Love, we teach both boys and
girls how to recognize the signs of dating abuse and how to speak up when they
are concerned about a friend. Our new middle school workshop, #healthyfriendships, helps young boys
and girls learn how to safely take a stand while navigating friendship issues.
By teaching these messages, we are empowering both boys and girls to support
victims of dating and domestic violence and encourage healthy friendships and
relationships. It is powerful to see boys and girls talking together about
important social issues and spreading positive messages about relationships.
Hopefully, the boys and girls
who participate in our AWARE workshops will continue to take the lessons they
learn about dating abuse and friendship issues to join others and advocate for
the right for all men and women to be able to live happy, healthy, and safe
lives. Watson’s speech reminds us that by men and women joining together to
address gender inequalities and violence against women, we can create a more
united and powerful coalition to solve the social issues we are facing.
Read Emma Watson’s full speech
here.
