Meghan tells young girls to ‘challenge injustice’ in virtual chat

Meghan hosted a roundtable to give young women a platform to ‘help define a path forward and continue making an impact’.
Duchess of Sussex court case
Meghan spoke of ‘everyday struggles during Covid-19’
PA
Luke O'Reilly30 April 2021

The Duchess of Sussex has told young girls to “challenge injustice” as part of an online talk.

Meghan hosted a virtual roundtable with a group of 13 to 18-year-olds – primarily girls of colour – who are part of the US non-profit organisation Girls Inc.

The duchess, joined by the leaders of Girls Inc and The National Women’s Law Centre, which advocates women’s legal rights, spoke of “everyday struggles during Covid-19”, including mental health, racism and “identity loss and isolation”.

A post on the Archewell website – the foundation set up by the Sussexes – said the roundtable gave the young women a platform to “help define a path forward and continue making an impact”.

It said the group had ambitions of medical professionals, senators, and presidents, adding that “as young activists, these girls are already making an impact around education, social justice, and health and wellness in their own schools and communities”.

It continues: “The girls who attended had strong and incisive perspectives on issues critical to girls today.”

The duchess, who is pregnant with a baby girl, also “reflected on the impact of trailblazing women throughout history” and asked the group to share their female role models which “embolden them to challenge injustice”.

Some of the responses included American civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, as well as Kala Bagai, one of the first South Asian women to immigrate to the US in the early 20th century.

Meghan is pregnant with a baby girl
PA Wire

The post said: “Amid the pandemic, the duchess has been engaging with communities of girls and girl-serving organisations, taking an approach of listening to and learning directly from a new generation of leaders.

“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 organisations advocating for a more equitable and just future.”

Some of the previous events Meghan has taken part in included a virtual mentoring session with a teenage girl from volunteer group LA Works and the charitable trust “I Have a Dream” Foundation during Women’s History Month.

On Black History Month, she spoke with diverse young poets from the organisation Get Lit – Words Ignite that was focused on creating change through the power of words.

The post said: “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.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in