Podcast 135 – Meghan Markle & Prince Harry start an Action Campaign to support women in the community

Concurrently with a new report from the US National Women’s Law Centre (NWLC) about the impact of the pandemic on women and mothers, Meghan and Harry through their Archewell Foundation have started a new campaign,  a call to action,  asking us alongside themselves to take actions to support women in our communities.

The NWLC report https://nwlc.org/resource/resilient-but-not-recovered-after-two-years-of-the-covid-19-crisis-women-are-still-struggling/  authored by  Jasmine Tucker and Julie Vogtman is titled Resilient but Not Recovered after two years of the COVID-19 crises women are still struggling,  focuses on the negative impact of the pandemic on working women in America.

The report finds that women, who have long taken on the bulk of caregiving responsibilities for children and others in their households—and the additional caregiving  demands produced by school and childcare disruptions and quarantine periods - appear to be holding women back from re-entering the workforce, whereas men have more than recouped their pandemic related labor force losses.

The net effect of this is that many women continue to struggle financially, with more women than men living in poverty. The report tells is that even before the pandemic began, women experienced poverty at higher rates than men, were overrepresented in low-paid jobs, and suffered from racist and sexist wage gaps. These trends continued during the pandemic and have contributed to women’s economic insecurity in this crisis. Women continue to be overrepresented in jobs with low wages.

NWLC are advocating for what they term a Women Centred Recovery plan.

The NWLC acknowledge that they have received financial grants from Archewell. The authors of the report state that the findings and conclusions presented in the report do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation. 

Meghan and Harry did post a link to the report from their Archewell website with a statement saying that “if like us, you are compelled by these finding to help improve the issues that the report brings to light, we encourage you to visit our action page where you will find ideas for meaningful ways to show up for women in your own communities and around the world.”

On Meghan and Harry’s action page there is a list of 18 ideas for actions that we can take in support of women in our communities. The actions are split into the sub-headings of:  family care; wellness; food; economic empowerment and mentorship. Some examples of things that we might be inspired to do include:

Help a woman to return to the workforceSupport policy efforts for gender equality, paid family leave, or to create safe spaces for womenProvide a meal for a Ukrainian woman in crisesContribute to mental health services and resources for black womenOffer a mother an afternoon of childcare.

When you look at this list you can see that Meghan has already completed all of the 18 suggested actions. She is not asking us to do anything that she has not already done herself.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/