"If you want to run for Prime Minister, you can. If you don't, that's wonderful, too. Shave your armpits, don't shave them, wear flats one day, heels the next. These things are so irrelevant and surface to what it is all really about, and I wish people wouldn't get caught up in that. We want to empower women to do exactly what they want, to be true to themselves, to have the opportunities to develop."

12 likes

Source: Emma Watson, The December 2014 ELLE Cover Interview by Lorraine Candy, www.elle.com. June 03, 2015.

About the author

Emma Watson

Actress, Activist

Emma Watson is an actress and activist known for her role in the Harry Potter series and her advocacy for gender equality through the HeForShe campaign.

All quotes by Emma Watson →

Same author

More quotes by Emma Watson

See all →
Emma Watson Actress, Activist

"If I had it my way, I would have just kept it short forever. Of course, men like long hair. There's no two ways about it. The majority of the boys around me were like, 'Why did you do that? That's such an error.' And I was like, 'Well, honestly, I don't really care what you think!' I've never felt so confident as I did with short hair - I felt really good in my own skin."

Read quote
Emma Watson Actress, Activist

"Gender equality, historically has been predominantly a women's movement for women. But I think the impact of gender inequality and how it's affecting men hasn't really been addressed."

Read quote
Emma Watson Actress, Activist

"Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong... It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum not as two opposing sets of ideals."

Read quote
Emma Watson Actress, Activist

"For the record, feminism by definition is: 'The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes.'"

Read quote