Malala Yousafzai is crediting Emma Watson with helping her overcome hesitations she had about calling herself a feminist.
"Interestingly, this word, feminism, has been a very tricky word," Yousafzai told Watson during an interview between the two had earlier this week. "When I heard it the first time, I heard some negative responses and some positive ones, and I hesitated in saying if I am a feminist or not."
Yousafzai said she changed her mind when she heard Watson's 2014 address to the United Nations, in which the British actress and "Harry Potter" star galvanized men to be advocates for gender equality. Watson was appointed as the UN Women Goodwill Ambassador in July 2014.
“After hearing your speech…I decided there's nothing wrong with calling yourself a feminist," Yousafzai said. "So I'm a feminist and you all should be feminists, because feminism is another word for equality."
Yousafzai chatted with Watson at the U.K. premier of "He Named Me Malala," a documentary about the human rights and education advocate.
Watson said she had planned on asking Yousafzai whether she was a feminist, but decided the day before their interview to hold off on the question.
"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," Watson wrote in a Facebook post.
Today I met Malala. She was giving, utterly graceful, compelling and intelligent. That might sound obvious but I was...
Posted by Emma Watson on Wednesday, November 4, 2015
