By Sheila Mckenzie-
Meghan Markle has called on women to challenge leaders and create positive change in a powerful speech loaded with potential connotations.
The Dutchess of Sussex who who withdrew from Royal duties with her husband Harry has been carving a career for herself in a series of PR moves to make a statement aimed at challenging wrong practices.
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Talks of a book in the pipeline and potential blockbuster deals has split the British public with respect to their views about the direction Meghan has chosen after marrying into the British royal household in 2018,
Meghan who is on a mission to achieve change said in a concluding a speech at a gender equality and female empowerment summit, that delegates should challenge “lawmakers and leaders and executives” because it was only by unsettling the powerful they would “create the conditions to re-imagine our standards”.
Meghan Markle spoke out about the fight against gender and race inequality while addressing young women around the world at a digital global leadership summit on Tuesday She quoted the Dalai Lama while urging participants to focus on ‘compassion’ instead of ‘anger’.
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Initiative Girl Up
The 38-year-old Duchess of Sussex joined the event, organised by UN initiative Girl Up, to give a passionate speech about racial and gender injustices the world over . In a powerful speech that would have inspired many women in her audience, she insisted that young women are the key to global change if they are willing to put aside negativity and focus on ‘building each other up’.
Meghan encouraged her female audience to challenge world leaders and executives to fight major issues including racial injustice and gender inequality, as well as gun violence, mental health awareness, and the reform of the criminal justice system.
The Duchess of Sussex, currently living in Tyler Perry’s $18 million Los Angeles home with her husband Prince Harry and their baby son Archie, noted that powerful organisations, including government, ‘pull tightest right before snapping’ and she urged the young summit participants to ‘keep challenging’ global leaders.
‘I say to you, keep challenging, keep pushing, make them a little uncomfortable. Because it’s only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to re-imagine our standards, our policies, and our leadership,’ she insisted.
Compassion
The Dutchess of Sussex also pointed out that any fight for change or social justice should be done with ‘compassion’, insisting that ‘compassion doesn’t mean you shouldn’t feel anger or outrage’ – but rather than you should ‘broaden’ those emotions into something positive.
Quoting the Dalai Lama, Meghan continued: ‘Compassion doesn’t mean we shouldn’t feel anger and outrage when we see blatant injustice all around us—of course we should. But I challenge you to broaden that feeling. The Dalai Lama famously said, “Compassion is the radicalism of our time.”
The keynote speech to the 2020 Girl Up leadership summit saw Meghan,who has been the subject of controversy in both the tabloid and the British public, challenge women to push boundaries. She said: “This is a humanity that desperately needs you.
“To push it, to push us, forcefully in a more inclusive, more just, and more empathetic direction and to not only frame the debate, but be in charge of the debate—on racial justice, gender, climate change, mental health and well being, on civic engagement, on public service, on so much more. That’s the work you’re already out there doing.
“Girl Up members are organising Black Lives Matter protests around the world, you are creating films to encourage your peers to become activist leaders, you are reforming the criminal justice system, we need more mental health resources for all ages, you are leading coalitions to end gun violence.
“You are standing up and demanding to be heard, yes, but you’re also demanding to own the conversation.”
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