"Emma Watson is the unexpected role model my daughter is growing up with."

Emma,

Like so many people around the world, I was first introduced to you through your role in Harry Potter. But as a mother of a young girl, I need to tell you that you are so much more. I would have never expected that someone who came into the public eye as a child actor would make such a huge impact on the world, but you’ve become someone that I can guide my daughter towards as a role model. One that I would like her to look up to as she grows, for many reasons.

The path of a child actor is a tricky one to navigate. It would have been easy to watch you go the way of so many success stories before you. A life of excess; of drugs and parties. But not once did I see you in the headlines for this reason.

As a mum, my heart already fills with dread at the idea of my daughter going out into the world. I’m worried about what she will be exposed to and what peer pressure will lead her to do.

I know how teenagers are, they want to fit in and be cool. Once upon a time that was me too, but now, thinking about my daughter in that situation, I’m already laying awake at night – and she’s only a year old!

While I’m not there yet I can only imagine that during those turbulent teenage years it can be helpful for kids to have a role model to look up to. The dangers out there for young women are so much more these days to what they were when I was a teenager (even though I know I too kept my mother awake at night!) but I hope that I can instill in her the kind of self and strength that you have shown so that she can make the right choices in whatever situation she may find herself in.

"I was first introduced to you through your role in Harry Potter." Image: Giphy.

You decided to use your position to better yourself and the lives of others, which is again something that I want my daughter to strive for. As an ambassador for gender equality, you’ve also made a point of not only supporting women around you, but supporting all women, whatever their circumstances, wherever they may be.

Sure, I want her to be successful. I want her to have a good education and to live a rich and full life, but most of all, I want her to be surrounded by good people. I want her to have a supportive group of friends like no other. I hope that my daughter takes after you and learns not only to elevate and support women around her, but also know that should she ever need a helping hand, she’s got a group of fierce females that will always have her back.

At the end of the day, all that matters is being loving and kind to your fellow humans.

Knowledge seems to be something you value highly. You’ve completed studies and gained degrees in your spare time. As someone who values education too and has a strong drive to give my daughter a good foundation of learning, I want her to look to people who took it upon themselves to seek information.

Not because they had to, but because they wanted to. Knowledge is power, so they say, and I want my girl to be powerful. Like you, I also want her to use that knowledge and power to help and inspire others – after all, the best way to inspire change is to empower those around you, and that all comes from that same self-belief and resilience that you display so honestly.

"Like you, I also want her to use that knowledge and power to help and inspire others." Image: Giphy.

You have openly declared your support of feminism but do so in a way I both appreciate and admire and it’s a direction that I would like my daughter to grow in. Your brand of feminism is one I want my daughter to know. I want her to know that she is not pigeonholed into a role, that there is so much she can achieve in the world and that her path is not always set in stone.

From what I have seen, you are passionate about affecting change and at every stage have presented yourself as eloquent and informed.

Most of all, I want to thank you for making it okay to call yourself a feminist once again. You’ve made women and men proud to own their own version of feminism which is, a man and a woman are equal. We are all equal. And this is something I want my daughter to learn.

In fact, I want my sons to learn it too. Your advocacy has truly put gender equality back on the global agenda and empowered women everywhere to unite and stand up for their rights. Truly I believe that there is nothing that can’t be achieved when women band together on a common cause.

Thank you for being the kind of role model that inspires girls to go and make their own mark on the world.

Sincerely,

An appreciative mother.

How has Emma Watson inspired you? This post was brought to you with thanks to Truvee Wines.