Meghan Markle puts on her big girl pants

Meghan Markle was the keynote speaker for the virtual Girl Up Leadership Summit on Tuesday. In her first major speaking engagement since she and husband Prince Harry stepped down from royal duties in March, the Duchess of Sussex encouraged listeners to fight gender inequality in her platitudinous manner of speech.

As usual, Meghan said a whole lot while also managing to say nothing at all. Cockburn is sure that all of the young girls listening in were very inspired — and also probably a bit confused.

Cockburn has compiled a transcript of some of the high(low)lights:

"This is a humanity that desperately needs you."

The Duchess of Sussex is taking part in the @GirlUp Leadership Summit, a gender equality initiative founded by the UN Foundation to help support UN agencies that focus on adolescent girls.

Read more here: https://t.co/gXVU8AgSZv pic.twitter.com/AXPNIgCWQ8

— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 14, 2020

‘I want to share something with you. It’s that those in the halls and corridors and places of power, from lawmakers to world leaders to executives, all of those people, they depend on you more than you will ever depend on them. And here’s the thing. They know this.’

‘Make them a little uncomfortable, because it’s only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to reimagine our standards, our policies, and our leadership, to move towards real representation and meaningful influence over the structures of decision making and power. Despite what some might say, this reimagining, it’s not a zero sum game where one side wins and one side loses. Not at all. It is mutually beneficial and better for everyone.’

***
Get a digital subscription to The Spectator.
Try a month free, then just $3.99 a month
***

‘There will always be negative voices, and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. But you can use your own voice to drown out that noise. Because that’s what it is. It is just noise, but your voices are those of truth and hope, and your voices can and should be much louder. I know they’ve already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we’re living through right now asks all of us to do more. It’s a moment when your voices and your action have never been more urgently needed.’

‘Don’t underestimate your ability to push through the fear. You have, rooted in your convictions, the ability to craft a role that you know that’s just in time. And your gut will tell you what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s fair and what’s unfair. The hardest part, and it was the hardest part for me, is to chase your convictions with action. You look at the breadth of the issues we’re facing right now. It is easy to get overwhelmed. I understand. So be where you are in the moment. The growth and the change that you’re pursuing might not feel like anything day to day, but when you look back, I promise you will see that at all adds up. We make better communities and a better world for ourselves step by step. And the pace of those steps is getting quicker.’