Ladies and gentlemen please welcome
American TV and film actress
and UN women's advocate for political participation and leadership
Megan Markel.
Well, good evening that doesn't
feel like enough does it it's just great evening
Maybe that's better.
un secretary-general
executive director Ponzi Li thank you distinguished ladies
and gentlemen 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
where 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
worked out 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 you and 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 a
eighty 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
eleven percent in 20 years come on this
has to change
women 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
s 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