Meghan has made her feminist values clear from the offset with she and husband Harry choosing to focus their efforts on charities that empower women.
And her passion for women’s rights is one that dates back long before she became royalty as a recently resurfaced video proves.
Royal fan account harry_meghan_updates yesterday shared a UN Women campaign in which a pre-Duchess Meghan stars.
The clip, believed to have been filmed in 2015, aims to encourage women to become leaders.
To the soundtrack of Florence and the Machine’s Say My Name the video captures women from across the globe before ending on Meghan.
A newly resurfaced video captures a pre-royalty Meghan in a UN Women campaign encouraging more women to be leaders
The then actress can be seen making notes before entering a room full of people where she is set to make a presentation.
The subtitles then read: ‘We see potential leaders everywhere. It’s time for more women to see it in themselves.’
Since 2014, the American actress has helped put a global spotlight on the need for equality between women and men as an ‘Advocate for Political Participation and Leadership’ for the women’s agency of the United Nations.
In her role for UN Women, Meghan spent time at the World Bank and with the team of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton learning more about the issue. She also visited Rwanda, which has the highest percentage of women in parliament and where she also met with female refugees.
Meghan appears alongside women from across the globe in the campaign which is believed to have been filmed in 2015
In the clip Meghan is seen making notes in preparation for a presentation to the soundtrack of Florence and the Machine
Meghan spoke about her accidental road to becoming an advocate at a star-studded celebration in March 2015 for the 20th anniversary of the Beijing women’s conference that adopted a roadmap to achieve equality for women, which is the framework for UN Women’s activities.
Her opening words drew loud applause and cheers: ‘I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.’
Meghan recalled that around the time of the 1995 Beijing conference she was in school in Los Angeles watching television and saw a commercial for a dishwashing liquid with the tagline: ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.’
‘Two boys from my class said, “Yeah. That’s where women belong – in the kitchen,”‘ she said.
The short video was shared on Royal fan Instagram account harry_meghan_updates and has since gone viral
Meghan has worked with UN Women since 2014 as an ‘Advocate for Political Participation and Leadership’
‘I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It just wasn’t right, and something needed to be done,’ Markle said.
When she went home, she told her dad, who encouraged her to write letters.
‘My 11-year-old self worked out that if I really wanted someone to hear, 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,’ Meghan said.
She also wrote to her main news source, Linda Ellerbee, who hosted a kids news program, as well as to ‘powerhouse attorney’ Gloria Allred and to the manufacturer of the dishwashing soap.
In 2015, Markle recalled the incident during a speech at the United Nations to mark International Women’s Day
Meghan said that for her, equality means that Rwandan President Paul Kagame is equal to the little girl in the refugee camp who dreams of being president and the U.N. secretary-general is equal to the U.N. intern who dreams of shaking his hand.
And ‘it means that a wife is equal to her husband, a sister to her brother – not better, not worse. They are equal,’ she said.
UN Women has set 2030 ‘as the expiration date for gender inequality,’ Markle said, but even though women comprise more than half the world’s population, their voices still go unheard ‘at the highest levels of decision-making.’
Markle called for programs to mobilize girls and women ‘to see their value as leaders’ and for support to ensure they have seats at the top table. And when those seats aren’t available, ‘then they need to create their own table,’ she said to loud applause.
Markle also said Rwanda’s Kagame, who has championed women in parliament, should be a role model, ‘just as we need more men like my father, who championed my 11-year-old self to stand up for what is right.’