Around one hundred thousand men have joined the He For She campaign, since Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, launched it on Sept. 20th. In a little over a month, this movement has exploded around the world as men pledge to take action against the violence and discrimination faced by women and girls everyday.

With the hope to express the direct human rights issue gender equality poses, Watson spearheaded the campaign with her speech at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Her powerful voice and outright passion, helped to clearly depict the misconceptions of feminism in today’s society. Watson recalled personal events she met in the past, such as being sexualized in the press at the age of 14, that helped her define herself as a feminist.

Through her speech, Emma Watson called upon men to stand up and fight for what is not only affecting women but also other men. “Gender equality is your issue too,” said Watson. When men are unable to ask for help because they would seem weak or a father’s role is undermined compared to a mother’s, these gender inequalities are also clear.

“The more I have spoken about feminism the more I have realize that fighting for women’s rights has become synonymous with man-hating.” -Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador

As a campaign, He for She has held events around the world, such as Denmark, where many have taken a stand for gender equality. In South Africa a Dutch man and his friend set off to mobilize men and funding for the cause. Along with the general public, several Hollywood stars have tweeted out their pledge to support the cause, such as Tom Hiddleston and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The race for each country to obtain more men who can pledge to strengthen equality continues and with the end of October nearing the amount of men who pledged this month rose to 186,804 from 164,306, around 20,000 people in one month.