UN Women launches new campaign to involve men in gender equality.

Finally.

In a campaign called He for She, men are explicitly being asked to take part in winning the fight for gender equality for women.

With half the global population still constricted in its ability to contribute equally and fully to society, everybody is losing out.

Calls for women’s equality to be recognised as an issue for everyone, regardless of gender, have become more vocal and frequent.

UN Women launched the HeForShe campaign calling on men to raise their voices for change on the eve of this year’s International Women’s Day.

Speaking about the movement, UN Women’s executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said, “This campaign encourages men all over the world to speak out against inequality faced by women and girls.

“It ties in elements of social media, online engagement and mobile communications, to engage and connect with audiences worldwide.

“My goal is to create a global movement that engages the whole of humanity.”

Headlining the campaign are internationally known men including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, actors Matt Damon and Antonio Banderas and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

Antonio Banderas is quoted as saying, “Real men don’t hit women. I call for men to join me in standing up to the violence directed at women and girls.”

And Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “Men and boys, we show our manhood through the way we treat our women. Our wives, our sisters and our mothers.”

John W. Ashe, president of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, said, ‘The road to achieving gender equality cannot and must not traveled by women and girls alone.

‘We cannot achieve gender equality without the full engagement of men and boys.’

Men around the world are encouraged to raise their voices and contribute a video to the HeForShe YouTube channel.

As the campaign says, ‘Women’s equality is human equality’.

Let’s encourage UK men to add their voices.

And we can also keep an eye on the UK National Committee for UN Women – the voice of UN Women in the UK – and the Government Equalities Office for support and development of this campaign within the UK.