Anne Hathaway delivers keynote address at UN Woman’s Day

In celebration of International Woman’s Day, today, actress Anne Hathaway delivered the keynote speech at the United Nations in NYC.

In a press release for the event, the UN announced that they selected Anne Hathaway to give the keynote speech because she is their UN Women Global Goodwill Ambassador. Hathaway delivered her speech live and in real time at 10:00 a.m. EST at the United Nations Headquarters, and it kicked off a full day of celebration of women.

Almost immediately after beginning her speech, Anne Hathaway became a trending topic on Twitter, and for good reason.

Hathaway’s sentiments echo those said by UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka when asked about International Women’s Day.

"“We want to construct a different world of work for women. As they grow up, girls must be exposed to a broad range of careers, and encouraged to make choices that lead beyond the traditional service and care options to jobs in industry, art, public service, modern agriculture and science.”"

Anne Hathaway’s keynote speech comes against a backdrop of “A Day Without A Woman,” which is also happening today. This protest is meant to demonstrate to both lawmakers and businessmen that women make up an important part of the fabric of society. This, perhaps, is another important sub-narrative of the International Woman’s Day celebrations.

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What do you think of Anne Hathaway and her keynote speech to the United Nations? Are you observing “A Day Without A Woman”?