Leicester launches HeForShes GetFree Tour

Following UN Women’s announcement, the University is to be the launchpad for the inaugural HeForShe #GetFree Tour to campus for a vital discussion on the importance of gender equality on Tuesday 29 September.

The HeForShe GetFree Tour is an innovative new effort, bringing a global conversation on gender equality to young people around the world. The GetFree Tour will enable students to express themselves and explore their own understanding of gender issues, empowering them to take a lead in advancing equality in their environments and communities.

Starting from the University of Leicester, the HeForShe GetFree Tour will visit six universities in the U.K. and France: University of Cambridge, Imperial College London, University of Leicester, the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of Nottingham, University College of London, and the Paris Institute of Political Science (Institut d'études politiques de Paris) respectively.

During the launch, key research by Leicester academics looking into gender issues, such as the lives of female breadwinners and the representation of women in the media, will be explored at an exhibition taking place in the Peter Williams Lecture Theatre in the Fielding Johnson Building between 2:30-3:30pm on 29 September.

Watch the University of Leicester's new HeForShe video, premiered at UN Women’s HeForShe #GetFree Tour launch event:

The University's President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Boyle said: “Our status as worldwide champions of HeForShe is both a great privilege and a huge responsibility. We have been vested with the challenge of making transformational advances in gender equality and being a beacon for the rest of the world. We aim to deliver fundamental change within a generation, so that organizations such as HeForShe become redundant and my two daughters and two sons take it for granted that they will be judged on their merits, not their gender.”

The GetFree Tour will feature prominent personalities including Nicky Morgan who will join university leaders and students to discuss the relevance and meaning of gender equality to universities in the 21st century.

• The programme for the day is available here
• Press release about the launch of HeForShe’s #GetFree Tour at Leicester
• Press release about gender-related research to be presented at the launch event
• Further information about the University's involvement in HeForShe is available here

• 'We're aiming to be beacon of equality' - Leicester Mercury First Person by Professor Paul Boyle
• Professor Paul Boyle's welcome speech on 29 September