Eva Longoria is determined to teach her son about "equality".
The 43-year-old actress gave birth to her son Santiago Enrique – whom she has with her husband Jose ‘Pepe’ Baston – in June this year, and has said she’s planning on raising the tot to understand feminist values, and will teach him that "women are equal to men".
She said: "People overthink the word ‘feminism’. It means equality. That’s it. So it’s not a lot of degrees of equality. It is what it is. So for me to be able to teach him women are equal to men is going to be a big lesson. But it’s not only about teaching him, it’s about showing him."
The ‘Desperate Housewives’ star knows that children "emulate" what those around them are doing, so will make sure she "walks the walk" when it comes to being a feminist.
She added: "And a lot of times, our young kids, they emulate. They’re not going to hear what I’m saying. He wants to emulate what I’m doing, so I think it’s important for us to walk the walk."
Eva set up the Eva Longoria Foundation seven years ago to "help Latinas build better futures for themselves and their families through education and entrepreneurship," and says the values of the organisation are even more important now she has a son to think about too.
She explained: "There are a lot of values I want to teach him, but for me, this work now has become so much more important. The stakes are so much higher now because the world in which I’m going to leave him has to be okay, from the environment to our government to representation to civil rights."
And whilst she’s working on building a better future for her little one, the ‘Overboard’ actress says she now feels "anxiety" about the state of the world because she’s never sure if she’ll make it home to her son.
Speaking to People magazine, she said: "I actually now get anxiety about the work I do as opposed to before. I was like, ‘This is great, what I’m doing – I’m helping people.’ But now [as a mom] I’m like (breathes in deeply), ‘What happens if something happens to me tomorrow and the world is the way it is and it’s just not quite right yet?’"
Eva Longoria: I’ll teach my son about equality
