--- description: She ignored the suggestion title: Emma Watson Says She Was Advised Not to Say the Word 'Feminism' in U.N. Speech image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d8667970971f5fc/6988735e5f570f849db1e9a8/gettyimages-485360238.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Emma Watson Says She Was Advised to Not Say the Word _Feminism_ in U.N. Speech  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Dec 2, 2015 12:16 AM CUT  English actress Emma Watson poses during the photocall of Hispano-Chilean director Alejandro Amenábar's movie Regression in Madrid on Aug. 27, 2015 English actress Emma Watson poses during the photocall of Hispano-Chilean director Alejandro Amenábar's movie Regression in Madrid on Aug. 27, 2015Gerard Julien—AFP/Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Correspondent Dec 2, 2015 12:16 AM CUT Emma Watson is not afraid to call herself a feminist — despite some advice she’s been dealt in the past. The actress made waves last year when she delivered [a much praised speech](http://time.com/3415901/emma-watson-womens-rights-u-n/ "undefined") at the U.N. Women’s HeforShe launch event encouraging men to fight for women’s equality across the world. She earned praise, in part, for dismissing the complicated connotations of the word feminism and defining it simply as “the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.” “The more I have talked about feminism, the more I’ve realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating,” she said at the time. “If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to stop.” But it turns out Watson was advised not to use the term in her now lauded oratory. “I was encouraged not to use the word _feminism_ because people felt that it was alienating and separating and the whole idea of the speech was to include as many people as possible,” she told the _Evening Standard_ in a recent interview. “But I thought long and hard and ultimately felt that it was just the right thing to do. If women are terrified to use the word, how on earth are men supposed to start using it?” The _Harry Potter_ actress, who has continued to lobby for women’s rights in the last year, did not specify who gave her the advice. **Read Next:** [Emma Watson Asked Men to Support Women and Here’s How Men Responded](http://time.com/3421898/emma-watson-4chan-feminist-un-speech/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4132059/emma-watson-feminism-heforshe-united-nations/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4132059/emma-watson-feminism-heforshe-united-nations/"},"headline":"Emma Watson Says She Was Advised to Not Say the Word Feminism in U.N. Speech","datePublished":"2015-12-02T00:16:12.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:01:31.937Z","description":"She ignored the suggestion","url":"https://time.com/4132059/emma-watson-feminism-heforshe-united-nations/","keywords":["celebrities","feminism","Harry Potter","Emma Watson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d8667970971f5fc/6988735e5f570f849db1e9a8/gettyimages-485360238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7d8667970971f5fc/6988735e5f570f849db1e9a8/gettyimages-485360238.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SPAIN-CINEMA-BRITAIN--WATSON","caption":"SPAIN-CINEMA-BRITAIN--WATSON","creditText":"Gerard Julien—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4132059/emma-watson-feminism-heforshe-united-nations/","name":"Emma Watson Says She Was Advised to Not Say the Word Feminism in U.N. Speech"}}]}] ```