--- title: Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist description: Emma Watson opens up about "tremendous high" and "crashing low" she experienced after launching U.N. gender equality initiative canonical: https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/ author: Suyin Haynes article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-09-30T11:19:52.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:03:29.638Z og:title: Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist og:description: Emma Watson opens up about "tremendous high" and "crashing low" she experienced after launching U.N. gender equality initiative og:url: https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51df5f3ff50b4fa9/6988a82c196cf4793a03d641/emma-watson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: UN Women's HeForShe campaign og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist twitter:description: Emma Watson opens up about "tremendous high" and "crashing low" she experienced after launching U.N. gender equality initiative twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51df5f3ff50b4fa9/6988a82c196cf4793a03d641/emma-watson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Sep 30, 2016 11:19 AM UTC  UN Women Goodwill Ambassador actress Emma Watson makes a speech at the launch of the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity Report at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 20, 2016. UN Women Goodwill Ambassador actress Emma Watson makes a speech at the launch of the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity Report at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 20, 2016.elcuk Acar—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Suyin Haynes](https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/) ## Suyin Haynes Sep 30, 2016 11:19 AM UTC Emma Watson has [opened up](http://europe.newsweek.com/emma-watson-un-ambassador-speaks-activism-gender-equality-fear-threat-hope-504494) about the “tremendous high” and “crashing low” she experienced after launching her gender equality initiative at the U.N. two years ago. The actor, now a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, said that her [2014 speech](http://time.com/3415901/emma-watson-womens-rights-u-n/?iid=sr-link5) launching the [HeForShe ](http://www.heforshe.org/en)campaign “opened Pandora’s Box” to both acclaim and a “a level of critique I had never experienced in my life,” _Newsweek_ reports. The two years since, she said, have been “a baptism of fire to say the least, where I learnt just how little I know, and also how much.” Speaking at the One Young World Summit in Ottawa on Thursday, Watson said that her journey as an activist has led her to find her “tribe” in the form of the global activist network, and continued pushing for a global focus on creating a level playing field for women. “Gender equality is as important as any of the other goals that we are here to discuss. And actually, if anything, it is more important, because it intersects with every single other issue that we face.” The _Harry Potter_ star was speaking at the Summit to announce the first recipients of a [One Young World](https://www.oneyoungworld.com/) Scholarship in her name. Watson said that when reading the applications of activists who had applied for the scholarship, there was “so much overlap with the things that I had been thinking about and that I had been struggling with”. HeForShe [recently announced](http://motto.time.com/4500005/emma-watson-heforshe-university-gender-equality/?iid=sr-link7) that its next big focus would be tackling gender inequality on university campuses. Watson also unveiled a [short film](http://motto.time.com/4507402/emma-watson-produces-feminist-olympic-inspirated-movie-about-hurdles/?iid=sr-link6) she helped to produce about the challenges to gender equality earlier this week. \[[_Newsweek_](http://europe.newsweek.com/emma-watson-un-ambassador-speaks-activism-gender-equality-fear-threat-hope-504494)\] Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/"},"headline":"Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist","datePublished":"2016-09-30T11:19:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:03:29.638Z","description":"\"The last two years have been a baptism of fire to say the least\"","url":"https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/","keywords":["motto","gender equality","U.N.","Emma Watson"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51df5f3ff50b4fa9/6988a82c196cf4793a03d641/emma-watson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Suyin Haynes","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/suyin-haynes/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt51df5f3ff50b4fa9/6988a82c196cf4793a03d641/emma-watson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"UN Women's HeForShe campaign","caption":"UN Women Goodwill Ambassador actress Emma Watson makes a speech at the launch of the HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity Report at the United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 20, 2016.","creditText":"elcuk Acar—Anadolu Agency/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":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4514334/emma-watson-activist-2/","name":"Emma Watson Describes the Struggles of Becoming an Activist"}}]}] ```