Meghan Markle revealed the advice she received from a “very inspiring woman” before her 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry.
The 41-year-old duchess discussed some of the stereotypes that women in activism face during her newest episode of her podcast Archetypes.
After her conversation with actors Jameela Jamil and Shohreh Aghdashloo, director Ilana Glazer, and historian Lisa Tetrault, Meghan closed the episode by sharing the message she received only “a few days” before her nuptials in May 2018.
“[The message was shared] by a very, very influential and inspiring woman, who for her own privacy, I won’t share who it was with you,” she explained. “But she said to me: ‘I know that your life is changing but please don’t give up your activism. Don’t give up, because it means so much to women and girls.’”
Meghan noted that as she has continued to be an activist since getting married and this piece of advice is one thing that pushed her to do so.
“And I kept doing the work for women and girls because it matters, yes” she continued. “But also because she encouraged me to do so. And the collective voice of all us telling each other that matters is perhaps the point. There’s safety in numbers, but there’s also strength in numbers.”
Since stepping back from their royal duties in March 2020, Harry and Meghan have used their platform to be a voice for changes. As noted on its official website, the pair’s non-profit organisation Archewell Foundation aims to use acts of compassion to “uplift and unite communities”.
In May 2021, Meghan hosted a virtual roundtable in collaboration with Girls Inc and National Women’s Law Center where she shared words of encouragement to the next generation of female activists. Per the Archewell website, her conversation with 13- to-18-year-olds, primarily girls of colour, covered everything from everyday struggles during Covid to mental health and racial injustice.
Elsewhere in her Archetypes episode, the royal candidly addressed some of the scrutiny that women have faced when speaking up about something they’re passionate about.
“I started to notice this almost default eye roll when someone would mention a woman fighting for a cause, and almost, ‘Oh here she goes again,’ or maybe it was more of, ‘Stand for something,’” Meghan explained. “‘Why can’t she just sit down and,’ you know, the rest.”
She went on to say that this negative connotation surrounding female activits is not something “new”.
“The unspoken annoyance that seems to swirl around women in activism was astounding to me, and I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it,” she added. “I still can’t. But then I realised, as with most things, while it may manifest itself differently, or in different shapes, or forms, or ways, it’s not new. This has been going on for a long time.”
