Nothing to see here. Just two women casually having a conversation about equality, together unpacking the weight that comes with publicly identifying oneself as a feminist.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai was interviewed by actress Emma Watson this week at the premiere of a documentary (“He Named Me Malala”) produced in tribute to the young human rights advocate.
An advocate for girls' education from a young age, in 2009, Yousafzai began blogging anonymously with the BBC. Her dispatches from her hometown of Mingora, Pakistan chronicled daily life as a girl under Taliban rule.
Her stance on the rights girls have to an education irked the Taliban, which orchestrated a plot to kill Yousafzai.
In 2012, masked gunmen boarded a bus full of schoolchildren and shot the then-14 year old in the head and neck. Two other girls were wounded and survived.
“I hesitated in saying am I a feminist or not,” the now-18-year-old admitted about coming to terms with identifying herself with the “very tricky word.” Watson sighed loudly.
“And then after hearing your speech when you said, ‘If not now, when, if not me, who,’ I decided that there’s nothing wrong with calling yourself a feminist,” said Yousafzai.
“So I’m a feminist… Because feminism is another word for equality.”
Yousafzai and her family moved to the U.K. after the attack and haven’t yet returned to Pakistan.
Watch the interview below:
The response nearly stupefied Watson, who leaned back into her chair to absorb the gravity of the words coming from the Pakistani teenager.
“If we want equality, if we want equal rights for women,” Yousafzai continued, “then men have to step forward.” She said it’s people’s responsibility to “participate actively” to bring about change because that’s the only way it will come.
After the interview wrapped, Watson took to her Facebook page to share a 23-minute clip of the interview with her more than 31 million followers.
She explained she decided to nix an idea to bring up feminism after doing cursory research and noticing it wasn’t a topic Yousafzai addressed in her previous interviews.
Watson said to her “utter shock,” Yousafzai “put the question back into one of her own answers,” then identified herself as a feminist.
“Maybe feminist isn't the easiest word to use... But she did it ANYWAY,” she wrote. The “Harry Potter” actress mused that she was most taken by the “sense of peace” that wrapped Yousafzai.
“I leave this for last because it is perhaps the most important,” said Watson. “Maybe as a result of what she has been through? I personally think it is just who she is.”
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