HeForShe 2nd Year Anniversary - September 20, 2016

Thank you Trevor. I’m so glad we have you to do the funny!

Good evening!

Being a part of HeforShe for the last two years has been an incredible learning experience for me.

There have been some really hard moments and a lot of amazing ones

Ones I could never have imagined. The Un Secretary General, the entire EU commission, the NATO Secretary General, the President of the International Olympic Committee, numerous heads of state and politicians around the world, including those you’ve heard from tonight, and everyone from Usain Bolt to Tom Hanks are now all HeforShe.

We’ve crashed the UN website on multiple occasions; lit up the Empire state Building; seen HeForShe in Times Square… and made it a term in the Urban Dictionary.

After two billion media impressions, 1.1 million pledged HeForShe’s, have made practical commitments, as have some of the world’s leading universities and companies to make gender equality a priority in their work and within their communities.

Surprisingly though, it was during the hard moments, that I made the best discoveries about what it means to be part of this movement.

There is genuinely a whole spectrum of amazing feminists out there who have not only given me invaluable advice, but also broadened my perspective and reinforced my belief that we are all linked.

We all belong to a long history and tradition of people who made sacrifices –some groups much more than others – in order to make indefinably large contributions to our modern lives.

We’ve seen seismic shifts in culture recently – I couldn’t believe my eyes when I turned on my TB to see that Bud Light was pledging gender equality and equal pay as part of its current advertising campaign!

We already have some amazing female leaders.

But I don’t know if I would have believed you if you had told me two years ago that we might have the first female president of the United States (please don’t let me down America),

A female Prime Minister in the UK

And, possible for the first time in history, a female UN Secretary-General,

While women still only make up such a small percentage of political leadership, to quote the awesome Michelle Obama, because of these women, girls and boys all over the world will have real life examples that women are leaders.

If the last two years have shown me anything – it is that nothing is impossible.

And that’s why tonight, as well as saying thank you for all you have done so far, I ask that you recommit yourself to be part of the movement for Gender Equality.

I genuinely feel that we are closer to a gender equal world than we were two years ago… and I know each and every ‘HeForShe’ has played a part in that.

Thank you so much and have a wonderful night.