Emma Watson Speaks on Gender Parity at 2016 World Economic Forum

by · January 22, 2016

Hot on the heels of being named one of Forbes‘s “30 Under 30” and announcing the launch of a new HeForShe website aimed at grassroots organizing, Emma Watson and HeForShe have appeared at the 2016 World Economic Forum in Davos, Sweden, to deliver their first-ever Parity Report.

As UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, Watson, along with Elizabeth Nyamayaro, the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of UN Women who originally recruited Watson to the HeForShe cause, spoke with ten male CEOs committed to advancing the cause of gender parity and released information about the gender breakdown at their own companies.

Here is a short video about HeForShe’s presence at the conference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs9xlwc5sXQ

And here is a brief summary from HeForShe of the findings of the CEO reports and what the aim is in improving gender parity numbers over time:

The report figures show that a gap remains between the representation of women in the workforce and in leadership positions. Overall representation of women averaged 39.7% across the ten firms, while senior leadership roles held by women ranged from 11.0% to 33.0%. While this outperforms global averages, UN Women has set parity as the goal of its Planet 50-50 drive for gender equality, and the IMPACT commitments put forward by these firms reflect a variety of pathways to achieve it.

Watch the full Davos HeForShe panel below:

You can download the full Parity Report right here. Keep up the good work, Ms. Watson – we’re sure Hermione would be proud!

Jessica J.

I've been making magic at MuggleNet since 2012, when I first joined the staff as a News intern. I've never wavered from the declaration in my childhood journal, circa October 2000: "I LOVE Harry Potter! If I clean my room, my mom says she'll make me a dinner a wizard would love!" Proud Gryffindor; don't hate.