Harry Potter series star Emma Watson to call for gender equality

The 24-year-old actress best-known for her role as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies launched the United Nation's gender equality campaign: "HeForShe"

Watson, who was appointed by the United Nation as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador six months ago, gave a speech at the organization's headquarters in New York City on Saturday.

"It is time that we all see gender as a spectrum instead of two sets of opposing ideals. We should stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are"

The "HeForShe" campaign aims for creating awareness in men and boys and encouraging their support to fight gender inequality. "I am reaching out to you because I need your help. We want to end gender inequality-and to do that we need everyone to be involved," Watson said.

The campaign calls for men and boys worldwide to join the movement for gender equality, a global problem that disadvantages both men and women.

In her speech, Watson shared her own experience of frequently coming across a common misconception about feminism. She complained that many people, especially boys and men, have the tendency to perceive feminism as "man hating", which is really far from the truth. She called for the change of that perception.

Feminism can be described as the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities in all political, economic and social spheres.

Watson made an emphasis on the importance of equal pay, women's participation in politics, equal respect for both genders and women's right to decide about their bodies. She stated that there is no single country in the world that can grant these rights to all women.

In order to achieve gender equality, the involvement of everyone is essential and no achievement can be accomplished if the half of the population is not participating in the argument, she noted.

She also made remarks about how the consequences of gender inequality affect both men and women, stopping them from reaching their real potential.

"I want men to take up this mantle. So their daughters, sisters and mothers can be free from prejudice but also that their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too-reclaim those parts of themselves they abandoned and in doing so be a more true and complete version of themselves."