HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 Program Launch - Jan. 23, 2015

Since the HeForShe launch in New York last September, I think it would be fair to say that my colleagues and I have been stunned by the response. The HeForShe conference was watched over 11 million times sparking 1.2 billion social media conversations, culminating in the HeForShe hashtag becoming so popular that Twitter painted it on the walls of its headquarters and men from almost every country in the world signed up to our commitment.

Everyone – from Desmond Tutu to Prince Harry to Hillary Clinton to Yoko Ono – have issued their support or contacted us since September 20. Everything from marathons being run, merchandise being created, 15-year-old boys writing to national newspapers deploring female discrimination, young girls collecting hundreds signatures. It's all happened in the last four months.

I couldn't have dreamed it, but it's happened. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for watching and thank you so much for your support.

So what is IMPACT 10x10x10? It's about engaging governments, businesses and universities, and having them make concrete commitments to gender equality.

But I want to hear from the human beings that are behind these organizations. I spoke about some of my story in September. What are your stories?

Girls: Who have been your mentors?

Parents: Did you make sure you treated your children equally? If so, how have you done it?

Husbands: Have you been supporting your female partner privately so that she can fulfill her dreams, too?

Young men: Have you spoken up in a conversation when a woman was casually degraded or dismissed? How did this affect you? How did this affect the woman you stepped up for?

Businessmen: Have you mentored, supported or engaged women in leadership positions?

Writers: Have you challenged the language and imagery used to portray women in the media?

CEO's: Have you implemented the women's empowerment principles in your own company? What change have you seen?

Are you someone that has been persuading men to become HeForShe's and collecting their signatures for our web site? How many have you got?

We want to know. We want to hear from you.

One of the biggest pieces of feedback I've had since my speech is that men and women want to help, but they aren't sure how best to do it. Men say they've signed the petition – what now?

The truth is – the "what now?" is down to you. What your HeForShe commitment will be is personal and there is no best way. Everything is valid. Decide what your commitment is, make it public and then please report back to us on your progress so that we can share your story. We want to support, guide and reinforce your efforts.

IMPACT 10x10x10 is about concrete commitments to change, the visibility of these commitments and the measurability of them, too.

How has the campaign impacted me so far? I've had my breath taken away when a fan told me that since watching my speech she stopped herself being beaten up by her father. I've been stunned by the amount men in my life that have contacted me since my speech to tell me to keep going and they want to make sure their daughters will still be alive to see a world where women have parity, economically and politically.

While I would love to claim that this campaign and the results of it are a result of my incredible speech-writing skills, I know that it is not. It is because the ground fertile.

It is my belief that there is a greater understanding than ever that women need to be equal participants, in our homes, in our societies, in our governments, and in our workplaces. And they know that the world is being held back in every way because they are not.

Women share this planet 50/50, and they are under-represented, their potential astonishingly untapped. We are very excited to be launching 10x10x10 to bring HeForShe into its next phase.

If you're HeForShe, and I'm assuming that you are because otherwise you'd be in somebody else's press conference right now, I'm here to ask you: What is the impact you can have? How, what, where, when and with who?

We want to help. We want to know and we want to hear from you. Thank you very much.

Transcript from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE28bb11GQs.