We here at Her Campus love Meghan Markle, aka the new Duchess of Sussex—and it’s not just because she’s an actress, or because she has a great sense of style (which she does). Meghan is a self-proclaimed feminist and has done a lot of humanitarian work with organizations dedicated to gender equality, and it seems Meghan found her beliefs and stuck to them early on.
Nickelodeon’s NickSplat took to Facebook on the day of the Royal Wedding to post a nostalgic Nickelodeon News clip in which 12-year-old Meghan launched a letter-writing campaign to get Procter & Gamble to change the sexist wording in one of their dish washing soap ads. The commercial showed women doing dishes in the kitchen with a voiceover that proclaimed, “Women are battling greasy pots and pans.” I think most people in 2018 would be able to recognize the problem there, but I find it pretty impressive that a pre-teen in early ’90s America had the same awareness.
“When I first saw the commercial, I knew something had to be done, because I was furious,” young Meghan said. And do something she did: Meghan sent a letter to Procter & Gamble explaining how the commercial’s wording led to sexist attitudes from boys in her class, and urged them to change the wording from “women” to “people” so that it didn’t make any assumptions about who was expected to be in the kitchen.
The news clip goes on to show that three months later, Meghan’s efforts proved to be successful, and the new commercial said “people.”
I, for one, am happy to see that someone like Meghan is now a part of the oft-traditional royal family. And though some are wondering if her new duties mean she has to shy away from political or feminist statements, it seems like Meghan’s admirable dedication to gender equality isn’t something that can be taken away so easily.