Learn English Meghan Markles Fight Speech For Feminism
I am tremendously honored to be UN
women’s advocate for political
participation and leadership I am proud
to be a woman and a feminist and this
evening I am extremely proud to stand
before you on this significant day which
serves as a reminder to all of us of how
far we’ve come but also amid celebration
a reminder of the road ahead I want to
tell you a story that’ll sort of give
context to my being here and my work
with you and women when I was just 11
years old I unknowingly and somehow
accidentally became a female advocate I
was around the same time as the Beijing
conference so a little over 20 years ago
we’re in my hometown of Los Angeles a
pivotal moment reshape my notion of what
is possible see I had been in school
watching a TV show in elementary school
and this commercial came on with the
tagline for this dishwashing liquid and
the tagline said women all over America
are fighting greasy pots and pans two
boys from my class said yeah that’s her
women belong in the kitchen I remember
feeling shocked and angry and also just
feeling so hurt it just wasn’t right and
something needed to be done so I went
home and I told my dad what had happened
and he encouraged me to write letters so
I did to the most powerful people I
could think of now my 11 year old self
were
doubt that if I really wanted someone to
hear me well then I should write a
letter to the first lady so off I went
scribbling away to our first lady at the
time Hillary Clinton I also put pen to
paper and I wrote a letter to my news
source at the time Linda Ellerbee who
hosted a Kids news program and then to
powerhouse attorney Gloria Allred
because even at 11 I wanted to cover all
my bases
finally I wrote to the soap manufacturer
and a few weeks went by and to my
surprise I received letters of
encouragement from Hillary Clinton from
Linda Ellerbee and from Gloria Allred it
was amazing the kids new show
they sent a camera crew to my home to
cover the story and it was roughly a
month later when the soap manufacturer
Procter & Gamble changed the commercial
for their ivory clear dishwashing liquid
they changed it from women all over
America are fighting greasy pots and
pans to people all over America
it was at that moment that I realized
the magnitude of my actions at the age
of eleven I had created my small level
of impact by standing up for equality
now equality means that president Paul
Kagame of Rwanda whose country I
recently visited as part of my learning
mission with UN Women
it means that he is equal to the little
girl the djembe refugee camp who is
dreaming about being president one day
equality means that un secretary-general
ban ki-moon is equal to the young intern
at the UN who is dreaming about shaking
his hand it means that a wife it means
that a wife is equal to her husband a
sister to her brother not better not
worse they are equal you and women as
you guys know has defined the year 2030
as the expiration date for gender
inequality and here’s what’s staggering
the studies show that at the current
rate the elimination of gender
inequality won’t be possible until 2095
that’s another 80 years from now and
when it comes to women’s political
participation and leadership the
percentage of female parliamentarians
globally has only increased by 11
percent since 1995 11 percent in 20
years
come on this has to change women
[Applause]
women make up more than half of the
world’s population and potential so it
is neither just nor practical for their
voices for our voices to go unheard at
the highest levels of decision-making
the way that we change that in my
opinion is to mobilize girls and women
to see their value as leaders and to
support them in these efforts to have
leaders such as President Kagame of
Rwanda continue to be a role model of a
country which has a parliamentary system
comprised of 64% female leaders I mean
it’s the highest of any government in
the world and it’s unbelievable we need
more men like that just as we need more
men like my father who championed my 11
year old self to stand up for what is
right in doing this we remind girls that
their small voices are in fact not small
at all and that they can affect change
in doing this we remind women that their
involvement matters that they need to
become active in their communities in
their local governments as well as in
the highest parliamentary positions it
is just imperative women need a seat at
the table they need an invitation to be
seated there and in some cases where
this isn’t available well then you know
what then they need to create their own
table
we need we need a global understanding
that we cannot implement change
effectively without women’s political
participation it is said that girls with
dreams become women with vision may we
empower each other to carry out such
vision because it isn’t enough to simply
talk about equality one must believe in
it and it isn’t enough to simply believe
in it one must work at it
let us work at it together
starting now thank you so much
[Applause]