Emma Watson to travel to Turkey to attend women’s film festival

ISTANBUL

Emma Watson was appointed UN goodwill ambassador on gender equality in July.

British actress Emma Watson will be the guest of the next year's edition of the Flying Broom Women’s Festival, the organization has announced.

Watson was recently appointed as the U.N. goodwill ambassador on gender equality and became the spokesperson of a new campaign, “HeForShe,” which calls on men to stand up for women’s rights.

“This is the first campaign of its kind at the U.N. We want to try and galvanize as many men and boys as possible to be advocates for gender equality. And we don’t just want to talk about it, but make sure it is tangible,” Watson said at the launch of the campaign.

“You might be thinking who is this Harry Potter girl? And what is she doing up on stage at the U.N.? It’s a good question, and trust me, I have been asking myself the same thing. I don’t know if I am qualified to be here. All I know is that I care about this problem,” the young actress said after being appointed the U.N. goodwill ambassador.

Earlier this year, Watson posted a picture of herself laughing in solidarity with Turkish social media activists, who had launched a hashtag campaign against a deputy prime minister who said women “shouldn’t laugh in public.”

Next year's Flying Broom Women's Festival will be held between May 8 and May 18 in Ankara.