Meghan Markle once again encouraged young girls to be a force for justice and change in the world.
Speaking at a virtual roundtable with girls aged 13 to 18, the Duchess of Sussex told the young women to “challenge injustice.” She was joined by the leaders of Girls Inc and The National Women’s Law Centre. According to the Daily Mail, the women in the group “have ambitions of being medical professionals, senators, and presidents.”
“As young activists, these girls are already making an impact around education, social justice, and health and wellness in their own schools and communities,” a statement on the Archwell website reads. “The girls who attended had strong and incisive perspectives on issues critical to girls today.”
“Amid the pandemic, the duchess has been engaging with communities of girls and girl-serving organizations, taking an approach of listening to and learning directly from a new generation of leaders,” the post continued. “All throughout the past year, she has convened conversations with women and girls, spoken with gender icons as well as new leaders, and partnered with key organizations advocating for a more equitable and just future.
“This work will continue as part of Archewell Foundation’s commitment to building compassionate communities that uplift women and girls, and serves as a reflection of the long-standing record of advocacy by the duchess, who has been standing up for equity since she was a young girl herself,” it concluded.
Since her split from the Royal Family, Markle has often used opportunities to speak to young girls about issues close to her heart. In the summer of 2020, for instance, Markle gave the keynote speech at the Girl Up Leadership Summit where she urged girls to fight against racial and gender inequality.
“Your generation is often referred to as digital natives, and you understand that our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm. We are not meant to be breaking each other down; we are meant to be building each other up,” she said.
“So use your voice both on- and offline to do just that – build each other up, support each other,” she continued. “There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that’s what it is – just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder.”
Addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, Markle told the women to do more than just believe in equality.
“I know you have already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we are living through right now asks all of us to do more,” she said. “It’s a moment where your voices, and your action, have never been more urgently needed.”
“Believing in true equality is not enough – it’s going to take more than belief, we have to work for it every day, even when it’s hard and even when it makes others feel uneasy,” she continued. “We have to speak up for ourselves and we have to speak out for others who struggle to be heard.”
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