Sunday, March 8th, the world celebrated International Women’s Day. In honor of the occasion, Emma Watson, who is a UN Goodwill Ambassador for the HeForShe campaign, participated in a Facebook Q&A session about gender inequality. In the hour-long discussion, a wide range of topics were covered, from wage discrimination to women taking up leadership roles. But the proud feminist, also touched upon the subject of chivalry and dating as a feminist.
Emma Watson
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It was indeed an intriguing subject because it’s one of those topics that has been raised time and again in various discussions. In this day and age of female empowerment and gender equality, does chivalry even have a place? While some argue that chivalry is an outdated concept, others assert that it’s needed now more than ever.
Suggested read: Emma Watson is a feminist, not a man-hater
Emma was asked, “How would you feel as a [feminist] if a man held the door open for you?”
“I love having the door open for me. And I love being taken to dinner,” Emma replied. “But isn’t that just politeness? … I think the key is – Would you mind if I held the door open for you?” she rhetorically asked her male interviewer. “I’m polite and you’re polite and we’re making the world a better place with this small kind polite gesture.”
Image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
She even touched upon the oft-asked question: Can you be a feminist and still let the man foot the bill?
“I actually took a man out for dinner recently. And I chose the restaurant and I offered to pay and it was really awkward and uncomfortable,” Emma said, laughing. “But the cool thing was we were both willing to have the conversation about why it was awkward or why it was uncomfortable. We were able to have this dialogue.”
Image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
She also went on to give an example of the conversation during that dinner:
“I chose the restaurant this time because it’s my favorite restaurant, you can choose and pay next time. Or you can split it, or whatever! Whatever makes you both comfortable.”
Emma continued,
“I think the key is that chivalry should be consensual. Both parties should be feeling good about that. It’s a problem when people expect things to be a certain way to follow a certain status quo and it’s awkward and it’s messy.”
Image source: Google, copyright-free image under Creative Commons License
In conclusion, she said,
“We’re in transition right now, and everyone doesn’t really feel like they know what to do – but it’s OK. Just be willing to have that awkward conversation. It does come out OK in the end.”
Later on in the discussion, Emma said,
“We’re never, ever, ever going to be able to fly as high unless we’re both in support of each other.”
Sounds wonderful, Emma. Let’s fly together!
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You can check out the video with the hour-long discussion on Emma Watson’s Facebook page.
Featured image source: Shutterstock
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