UN Women National Committee Canada Lauds Emma Watson's Unveiling of the UN Women's HeForShe IMPACT 10X10X10 Pilot Initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos

OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 27, 2015) - Almas Jiwani, President of the UN Women National Committee Canada, lauded Emma Watson's unveiling of the HeForShe IMPACT 10X10X10 pilot initiative at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23rd.

"Emma Watson shone once again as Global Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women with the announcement of HeForShe's IMPACT 10X10X10 initiative," Jiwani said. "This year-long initiative calls on corporations, governments and universities to act as instruments of change. Now is the time to work together to further women's empowerment and gender equality."

In Davos, Watson asked CEOs how have they implemented women's empowerment in their own companies. She asked writers how they challenged the imagery and language used to portray women in the media. She asked girls who their mentors were, and parents whether they have raised their children equally. And she asked husbands whether they extended support to their female partners so that they, too, could fulfill their dreams.

The HeForShe campaign has inspired men to sign up by the thousands to support gender equality and the #HeForShe hashtag trended on Twitter.

Last fall the HeForShe campaign had a successful launch in Toronto. There was an outpouring of support and positive feedback. Canada will continually aim to increase the number of men and boys committed to the movement.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us. This continuation of the HeForShe campaign gives us the impetus to work together and mobilize our communities to work towards the rights of women and girls. Gender equality is worth fighting for and I urge Canadian corporations, universities, and grassroots organizations to join IMPACT 10X10X10," stated Almas Jiwani.

"Impact 10X10X10 enables us to move beyond awareness to concrete commitments and real actions. Our end goal is a true impact on gender equality," said Elizabeth Nyamayaro, Senior Advisor to Under-Secretary-General & Executive Director.

It is a message that the UN Women National Committee Canada hopes will resonate among Canadians.

For interviews with Ms. Almas Jiwani, please contact Christiane Fox at Christiane.Fox@unwomencanada.org.

About UN Women's HeForShe and IMPACT 10X10X10 Campaign:

HeForShe is a solidarity movement for gender equality. Gender equality was at one time a struggle for women by women but now is the time for this to change. A movement is building around the world that sees men taking a stronger stand on equality. Canada currently has over 13,000 men who have committed to furthering gender equality within our country.

IMPACT 10X10X10 initiative aims to add corporations, governments, universities and grassroots organizations into the growing movement of equality. Gender equality benefits everyone. IMPACT 10X10X10 builds on HeForShe as a movement that seeks gender equality advocates in every sphere of influence.

For more information about the Campaign, please visit: www.heforshe.org.

About UN Women National Committee Canada

UN Women National Committee Canada is an independent, non-government organization that supports the mission of UN Women through public awareness initiatives about UN Women and global women's issues, as well as fundraising efforts to support UN Women programmes worldwide.

For more information about UN Women, please visit http://www.unwomencanada.org/.