Everyone should have the right to be themselves, Bendigo Young Citizen of the Year Khayshie Tilak Ramesh said.

The 19-year-old was preparing a speech to deliver to 150 people attending an International Womens Day event hosted by the Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services.

She had decided to speak about the way people subtly, or subconsciously, disregard feminist issues in Australia.

"In my opinion, a lot of these bigger issues escalate from the little issues people let slide by," Ms Tilak Ramesh said.

"You set the standard that you walk past.

"If you see something that's wrong and you don't say something about it, then you're condoning that as okay in a lot of circumstances."

At first, the Red Cross Young Humanitarian struggled to think of examples of times when she had been subject to unjust treatment based on her gender.

There were just a few little things. Like the times when people assumed her male colleague was in charge at the retail store she was managing.

Or when a friend at a sleepover said she should stop seeking leadership opportunities, because it might intimidate the boys around her.

Those tiny fragments accumulate to a bigger issue, Ms Tilak Ramesh said.

She was keen to make the point that gender inequality affected all people, citing the example of a male friend who had refused to see a counsellor for help during a tough time for fear he would be emasculated.

"When you think about the impact it's having on youth, it's insane," Ms Tilak Ramesh said.

"I'm trying to urge people to be vocal about things and to own themselves and not to apologise for who they are."

A moment during the first class of Year 2 at primary school seared the message in her mind.

Ms Tilak Ramesh wanted to get a table close to the front of the room.

"I put my hand on the chair so I could take it," she said.

"As I put my hand on the chair to take a seat, I started hearing a dry retching noise."

She whirled around, keen to offer assistance to whoever was going to be sick, and was told by a male classmate that the colour of your skin makes me want to vomit.

"In my mind, I'd hurt them," Ms Tilak Ramesh said.

She used an art set she'd received as a gift to create an apology card, which she then presented to the boy who had pretended to retch.

Her mother, who had taught her to apologise if she had hurt someone, was less than thrilled with her response.

"I couldn't quite work out why," Ms Tilak Ramesh said.

It was then that her mother explained what had been meant by the boy's noises, and told her she should never apologise for who she was.

"That's always something that's really stuck with me," the third-year law student said.

In addition to being young citizen of the year, Ms Tilak Ramesh has been named in the top 100 future leaders of Australia.

The La Trobe University Bendigo student is the co-founder and vice-president of advocacy group Young People for Refugees, and a Community Leadership Loddon Murray junior board director.

In speaking about International Women's Day, Ms Tilak Ramesh said the young men she has discussed gender equality with were all for it.

However, she said young people were reluctant to align themselves with the word feminist, because of its connotations.

Meanwhile, feminist and actor Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame has defended her appearance in a Vanity Fair photoshoot.

"Feminism is about giving women choice," Watson said while promoting Beauty and the Beast.

"Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It's about freedom, it's about liberation, it's about equality. I really don't know what my tits have to do with it."