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Anne Hathaway on International Women’s Day: Invest in Women
Actress, mother of two, and UN Women’s ambassador. Anne Hathaway calls on international leaders to invest in women and their rights in her speech.
Anne Hathaway called on members of the United Nations and world leaders to invest in women and gender equality. In a video posted on the UN Women’s social media accounts, the UN ambassador, actress, and mother of two pointed out that there are still so many things to do. Even if many women now hold positions in business and other sectors.
She said, “If we share this world in equal numbers, why aren’t we valued equally? Because the ongoing, disgraceful reality is that women are not valued equally.”
The She Came to Me star added that the global economic system is failing women worldwide. Citing numbers, she explained that the investment of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) in gender equality and women’s empowerment is at only 4%, with only 0.3% of the budget funding the ending of violence against women and girls.
“There is an outrageous discrepancy between what we need and what’s to prioritize,” Anne declared.
Stop the double standard!
In the video, Anne said that it was time to stop the double standard and invest in women. She pointed out that the government has already spent billions on the military when they could allocate some of it to women’s issues.
“How do we accept that that money was made readily available when a fraction of it—an additional 360 billion dollars each year is the cost of achieving gender equality across key global goals, including the goals of ending poverty and hunger?”
Citing the excuses including that change happens slowly, Anne said that people only had so much patience. There should have been value in lives that lived in prosperity and peace. Women and their families need to live without fear of violence—a space where there are equal opportunities for family life, leisure, learning, and fair earnings.
“If we value these lives, then surely we have reached the point where we can successfully argue women’s rights to share in a world equally.”
She ended the speech by encouraging everyone to vote, influence, and decide on “what do you truly value?”
“Will you accelerate the change we so desperately need, and make it this the moment where we boldly and fairly invest in women? I hope so,” she ended.
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