Meghan Markle UN Women

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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