Celebrity

The 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' actress gushes over the Nobel Peace Prize winner after their discussion about feminism.

• Nov 6, 2015

AceShowbiz - Emma Watson interviewed Malala Yousafzai after the screening of her documentary "He Named Me Malala" in England. During the chat, the Nobel Peace Prize winner told the actress who is also a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador that she inspired her to become a feminist.

"This word 'feminism' has been a very tricky word," Yousafzai told Watson. "When I heard it the first time, I heard some negative responses and some positive ones. And I hesitated in saying 'am I a feminist or not?' And then after hearing your speech, when you said 'If not know when? If not me who?' I decided that there's nothing wrong by calling yourself a feminist."

"I am a feminist and we should all be feminists because feminism is another word for equality," she added. "Your gender should not create any difficulty in the choices that you make. It's about equality, it's about feminism, it's about saying that we're all human beings. Why would you separate us just because our gender is different?"

The women's rights activist also said, "My father has set an example to all parents. If we want equality, if we want equal rights for women then men have to step forward ... We all have to work together for change to come."

After the interview, Watson took to Facebook to share how she felt about their discussion. "Perhaps the most moving moment of today for me was when Malala addressed the issue of feminism," she wrote.

"To give you some background, I had initially planned to ask Malala whether or not she was a feminist but then researched to see whether she had used this word to describe herself. Having seen that she hadn't, I decided to take the question out before the day of our interview. To my utter shock Malala put the question back into one of her own answers and identified herself. Maybe feminist isn't the easiest word to use... But she did it ANYWAY."

She concluded, "We are all moving towards the same goal. Let's not make it scary to say you're a feminist. I want to make it a welcoming and inclusive movement. Let's join our hands and move together so we can make real change."