Following Emma Watson and Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway has been named global goodwill ambassador for UN Women. The Oscar-winning actress will be working with the organisation to advance gender equality. She’s also welcomed her first child with husband Adam Schulman last month.
Hathaway said in a statement: “I feel honoured and inspired by this opportunity to aid in advancing gender equality. Significant progress has already been made but it is time that we collectively intensify our efforts and ensure that true equality is finally realised.” Meanwhile the UN Women executive director, Phumzile Mlambo-Nguck, praised the actress’s involvement.
Mlambo-Nguck added: ”The appointment of Anne is timely because this year UN Women is driving hard to foster more positive mind-sets and practical arrangements around workplaces that build and support equality for women. The motherhood penalty – which means that when they become mothers, women’s pay and opportunities at work suffer – is a particularly insidious demonstration of gender inequality in the workplace. For too long it has been difficult or impossible to view raising a child as being truly an equal responsibility for both parents.”
The actress’s responsibilities will include turning “the spotlight on the issue of the unequal burden of care work in the home as one of the key barriers to gender equality” and “working internationally to advance the adoption and implementation of policies that will bring measurable change” which includes “affordable childcare services and shared parental leave at both government and corporate levels.”
