As Meghan Markle gets set to walk down the aisle with Prince Harry, here is a quick look at her strong feminist trait
‘I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.’
Those where Meghan Markle’s opening lines as she addressed the gathering on the 20th anniversary of Beijing Women’s Conference in 2015.
There was nothing new in that statement; Meghan has always been a feminist. She was only an 11-year old elementary school student, when she took up the cudgels for gender equality, creating awareness among her school mates and even the world at large.
It all began when she took offence to a commercial for a dishwashing solution, which unapologetically claimed ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.’ When the ad became the focus of a discussion in the class, Meghan overheard a couple of boys backing it by stating that that’s where women belonged – ‘in the kitchen.’
Riled by the way the ad was sending wrong messages to the youth in the country, Meghan decided to write letters to people who could make a difference to the story unfolding, including the then first lady, Hilary Clinton and the manufacturer of the dishwasher. Soon, she found herself in the spotlight and, in a month’s time, the commercial was changed from ‘Women’ to ‘People all over America…’
Recalling that phase, she’d said, “At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality.” That spark remained with her long after, and, in 2014, she became an ‘Advocate for Political Participation and Leadership’ for the women’s agency of the United Nations. Following her engagement to Prince Harry, her role as a humanitarian and a feminist will, of course, be reprised, and there is much hope there. In fact, the UN Women expects Meghan to ‘continue to use her visibility and voice to support the advancement of gender equality.’
And she will…
36-year old Rachel Meghan Markle has leveraged her celeb status as an American actress, to garner support for gender equality. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she has stood by ideals, and has, at various forums, demonstrated her interest to continue in that fold.
Now, as she gets set to become a member of the British royal family in May this year, Meghan is serious about the next most important chapter in her life. She is pulling the brakes on her acting career, and has deleted all her social media accounts. But that is not to discount her strong personality and her quest to be a woman who works. Even when she first spoke about her Prince Harry to an entertainment magazine, last September, she’d said: “We are two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people’s perception. Nothing about me changed. I’m still the same person that I am, and I have never defined myself by my relationship.”