British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw speaks at HeForShe #GetFree University Tour
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The magenta and black HeForShe bus rolled into Cambridge, United Kingdom on 6 October—its fourth visit on a special UK Tour. UN Women’s #GetFree University Tour is a new effort to connect passionate student activists in a global network to raise awareness around gender equality. It aims to bring UN Women’s HeForShe movement directly to university students, convening thought leaders and providing a forum for critical debate and discussion.
Since the HeForShe launch at the United Nations on 20 September 2014 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson, hundreds of thousands of men from around the world including Heads of State, CEOs, and global luminaries from all walks of life have committed to gender equality.
Speaking to a crowd of dedicated students at the Cambridge University's "freshers fair", British actor and women’s rights advocate Gugu Mbatha-Raw delivered keynote remarks, reflected on her own experiences in the film industry and her personal commitment to gender equality, telling an inspiring story about the ways our fears can in fact become our greatest assets. She concluded with an impassioned plea to students to "change the course of gender equality."
Since the launch of the HeForShe campaign, over 200 HeForShe Student Associations have emerged in universities around the world. The first-ever HeForShe #GetFree University Tour began this autumn, bringing the conversation to 20 institutions in the US and Europe. In its first week, the tour visited the University of Nottingham and University of Leicester, in the United Kingdom, and Sciences Po, in Paris. In 2016, the Tour is expected to bring the global conversation on gender equality to universities across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and Latin America.
Follow the tour @HeForShe using the hashtags #GetFreeTourUK and #GetFreeTourFR
Read the #GetFree brochure here.