Meghan Markle Spoke About Using Her Voice for Change After Leaving the Royal Family

Meghan Markle spoke at Fortune's Most Powerful Next Gen Summit, where she reflected on using her voice for good after stepping down as a senior royal.

Emily Dixon's avatar
By
published
in News
london, united kingdom march 11 embargoed for publication in uk newspapers until 24 hours after create date and time meghan, duchess of sussex attends the 2019 commonwealth day service at westminster abbey on march 11, 2019 in london, england photo by max mumbyindigogetty images
(Image credit: Max Mumby/Indigo)
  • Meghan Markle spoke at Fortune's Most Powerful Next Gen Summit on Tuesday.
  • She discussed the importance of using your voice for good, and reflected on being unable to speak out as a senior member of the royal family.
  • "Your voice matters," she said. "You realize it more when you are not able to exercise it. Regardless of my experience over the last few years compared to anyone’s experience, you can’t take for granted the ability you have as a woman to be able to be heard."

Meghan Markle took part in another video chat with Fortune magazine Tuesday, People reports, as part of the Most Powerful Next Gen Summit. She spoke about the importance of utilizing your public platform and exercising your voice for good—something she'd been unable to do as a senior member of the royal family.

"Your voice matters," Meghan said. "You realize it more when you are not able to exercise it. Regardless of my experience over the last few years compared to anyone’s experience, you can’t take for granted the ability you have as a woman to be able to be heard, and now with the platform that people have on social media to actually have that voice heard for a larger audience, I think it's a huge responsibility."

The Duchess of Sussex also shared that becoming a parent to Archie strengthened her resolve to speak out. "It’s interesting because my gut is that [parenthood] makes you more courageous, it makes you so concerned for the world they're going to inherit," she said. "So the things you’re able to tolerate on your own are not the same that you are going to put your child in a position of vulnerability for. You go every single day—how can I make this world better for Archie? That is a shared belief for my husband and I."

RELATED STORIES

melbourne, australia october 18 meghan, duchess of sussex attends a reception hosted by the honourable linda dessau ac, governor of victoria and mr anthony howard qc at government house victoria on october 18, 2018 in melbourne, australia the duke and duchess of sussex are on their official 16 day autumn tour visiting cities in australia, fiji, tonga and new zealand photo by samir husseinsamir husseinwireimage

(Image credit: Samir Hussein)

Meghan Says Being Trolled Was Almost Unsurvivable

bognor regis, united kingdom october 03 prince harry, duke of sussex and meghan, duchess of sussex visits university of chichesters engineering and digital technology park during an official visit to sussex on october 3, 2018 in bognor regis, united kingdom the duke and duchess married on may 19th 2018 in windsor and were conferred the duke duchess of sussex by the queen the duke and duchess married on may 19th 2018 in windsor and were conferred the duke duchess of sussex by the queen photo by samir husseinsamir husseinwireimage

(Image credit: Samir Hussein)

Meghan and Harry Talked Structural Racism

Emily Dixon
Emily Dixon
Morning Editor

Emily Dixon is a British journalist who’s contributed to CNN, Teen Vogue, Time, Glamour, The Guardian, Wonderland, The Big Roundtable, Bust, and more, on everything from mental health to fashion to political activism to feminist zine collectives. She’s also a committed Beyoncé, Kacey Musgraves, and Tracee Ellis Ross fan, an enthusiastic but terrible ballet dancer, and a proud Geordie lass.