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00:00And along from me, Annie Ladek-Sobini, the musician was challenged and cheered us with her songs and her campaigning
00:07on women's issues and founder of the Circle, which supports empowering women in innovative ways in some of the worst
00:13parts of the world.
00:14She's also won a Nobel Women's Peace Award for their work on HIV and AIDS prevention.
00:19And next to Annie is Adwa, an activist, model and founder of the Great Girls Talk, an online forum where
00:25young women can discuss mental health safety, such an important issue at the moment.
00:29She's also just being issued as a rather cruel Barbie.
00:33I'm dressed in a sugary pink, I think they're all.
00:41Next to Annie, who will not be known as Barbie for the rest of this session, is Her Royal Highness
00:47the Duchess of Sussex, who started her feminist journey at the age of 11, claiming her portrayal of women in
00:53advertising.
00:54In her present role, she's been a vociferous spokeswoman, a royal not afraid to embrace full-on feminism, and, as
01:02of today, Vice President of the QCT.
01:05Good morning, Your Highness.
01:07Just a quick one as we're among friends.
01:09I mean, how is that bum treating you?
01:12Very well.
01:12It's funny.
01:13I've actually been joking in the past few weeks.
01:15I've seen this documentary on Netflix about feminism, and one of the things they said during pregnancy was,
01:19I feel the embryonic kicking of feminism.
01:23I love that.
01:24So, boy or girl, whatever it is, we hope that that's the case.
01:27The next generation of feminism is already on the way there.
01:30Guaranteed, you know to hear first, Julia Gillard is...
01:34You know, out there as a feminist at the age of 11, possibly earlier, so I missed that story.
01:39But to give us an insight to your personal journey, and what made you decide that this is the thing
01:46you want to engage in,
01:47and, most of all, what do you want to do with it now, in the role that you have?
01:51Yes, of course.
01:52Good morning, everyone.
01:53Thank you so much for being here.
01:56At the age of 11, I had seen a commercial at the time that I found to be very sexist,
02:00and, you know, truth be told, at 11, I don't even think I really knew what sexism meant.
02:04I just knew that something struck me internally.
02:07No one was telling me that it was wrong, that I knew that it was wrong,
02:10and I think sort of using that as my moral compass,
02:14and moving through from the age of 11, being able to see that at that age,
02:19I was able to actually change this commercial before social media,
02:22and before being able to, you know, have a larger reach, just putting pen to paper,
02:27it really set up the trajectory for me to say,
02:30if things are wrong, and there is a lack of justice, and there's an inequality,
02:34then someone needs to say something, and why not me?
02:39So I think, you know, if I look at that from that young age,
02:43and then sort of follow what I did in the years after that,
02:46it was always about learning more, not just from where I was,
02:49but where else in the world, you know, similar things were happening,
02:52a different version of the same thing, so to speak.
02:56And once I became old enough to travel, specifically to developing countries,
02:59and see what was happening abroad,
03:01I think for me what really resonated was the lack of education for girls,
03:06and how that has a ripple effect on so many things,
03:09and I think, you know, it seems like a broad stroke,
03:12and many people will say,
03:13okay, fine, I see you want girls to have an education,
03:16just want to have smart girls.
03:18It's actually much more complex than that,
03:20and it really does solve so many of the world's problems
03:22when a girl has access to education.
03:25You know, when you look at it, you can say,
03:27here are the vulnerabilities and the challenges that come about
03:30when they don't have access to education, right?
03:32There's a child with marriage, susceptibility to trafficking,
03:35modern slavery, all of that,
03:37but equally, look at all the positives that come out of it
03:40when you do have access to education for young girls.
03:42How it affects economic development, the GDP.
03:46Billions of dollars on the table are lost
03:48by girls being led of education.
03:51But selling this to men and boys,
03:54do we have a bit trapped in sort of what was behaving
03:57as if it's only a subject for women?
03:58What do we need to just do differently then?
04:00Can I ask you a minute?
04:01Yeah.
04:01Yeah, sure.
04:02I think, you know, it's interesting because
04:04they're not separate conversations,
04:07and I think the idea of feminism
04:09and whatever stigmatization is surrounded
04:10just in that majority in and of itself,
04:12to Annie's point, making it global feminist
04:14and changing that conversation immediately.
04:17But for men to understand they can be feminists as well,
04:19I mean, I think when we talk about gender stereotypes shifting,
04:23what it means for to be masculine,
04:25what it means to be feminine,
04:26you know, I've said for a long time,
04:28you can be feminine and a feminist.
04:30You can be masculine,
04:32and I think in terms of masculinity,
04:34you understand that your strength
04:35includes knowing your vulnerabilities,
04:37and your sense of self-insecurity,
04:40your confidence,
04:41comes in knowing that a woman by your side,
04:44not behind you,
04:45is actually something that you shouldn't be threatened about,
04:47but as opposed to that,
04:48you should feel really empowered
04:49in having that additional support,
04:51that this is really about us working together.
04:54That's what gender equality means for me,
04:56and having been part of that conversation
04:58to say there's nothing threatening about a woman
05:00coming up to the same level.
05:01It's our safety in numbers.
05:03This is our power,
05:04and our strength is our team.
05:06So, and that's gender neutral,
05:08if you really think about it.
05:09So I hope that men are part of the conversation.
05:11My husband certainly is.
05:17But selling this to men and boys,
05:20do we get a bit trapped in sort of what was behaving
05:22as if it's only a subject for women?
05:24What do we need to just do differently then?
05:26Yeah, yeah, sure.
05:27I think, you know,
05:29it's interesting because
05:30they're not separate conversations,
05:33and I think the idea of feminism
05:34and whatever stigmatization is surrounded
05:36just in that board in and of itself,
05:38to Annie's point,
05:39thinking of global feminism
05:40can change that conversation immediately.
05:42But for men to understand
05:43they can be feminists as well,
05:45I mean, I think when we talk about
05:46gender stereotypes shifting,
05:49what it means for to be masculine,
05:51what it means to be feminine,
05:52you know, I've said for a long time,
05:53you can be feminine and a feminist.
05:56You can be masculine,
05:57and I think in terms of masculinity,
05:59you understand that your strength
06:01includes knowing your vulnerabilities,
06:03and your sense of self and security,
06:06your confidence,
06:07comes in knowing that a woman
06:08by your side, not behind you,
06:11is actually something
06:12that you shouldn't be threatened about,
06:13but as opposed to that,
06:14you should feel really empowered
06:15in having that additional support,
06:17that this is really about us
06:18working together,
06:20that's what gender equality means for me,
06:21and having been part of that conversation
06:24to say,
06:24there's nothing threatening
06:25about a woman coming up to the same level,
06:27it's our safety in numbers,
06:29this is our power,
06:30and our strength as a team.
06:32So, and that's gender neutral,
06:34if you really think about it,
06:35so I hope that men are part of the conversation,
06:37my husband certainly is.
06:42But I think, you know,
06:44in developing countries as well,
06:46and this is where I've been
06:47some of the work in India
06:49a few years ago,
06:49this great organization
06:50called Inamaheel,
06:51a small grassroots,
06:53working with slum communities,
06:55trying to destigmatize
06:56what menstruation means
06:58for a lot of these
06:59and also giving them the access
07:02to be able to get the products,
07:04but in the same construct,
07:05having these women sort of mobilized
07:07to be able to set up microfinance
07:09to sell these pads
07:11and other things that are needed
07:12to other women
07:12who live in the community.
07:13So again,
07:14it feels like it's one issue,
07:15but it ends up solving so many
07:18because when you see
07:19how many girls are hindered
07:21and taken out of school
07:22simply because they're ashamed
07:23of going through that transition
07:24in their life
07:25or because no one wants to talk about it
07:27or because they don't have what they need
07:28and they're using old rags,
07:30literally, right,
07:31which then of course
07:32is propelling disease
07:33and so many other symptoms
07:36that come from this.
07:37I think at the end of the day,
07:39we are doing our part
07:40to just normalize the conversation.
07:42That's the first step
07:43because again,
07:44this is 50% of the population
07:45that's affected by something
07:47that can also end up creating
07:48the most beautiful thing
07:49in the world.
07:51So it's sort of a strange one
07:53that it's ended up
07:54become so stigmatized,
07:55but I think to remember
07:56that it's also in our own communities
07:59that that's happening,
08:00the only way we shift that
08:01is by really talking about it,
08:03which is why the work
08:03for dinner for girls
08:04is so important.
08:09In other cases,
08:10there's an added layer of race,
08:13social demographic.
08:14I mean,
08:14there's so many key elements
08:16at play there
08:17and I think at the end of the day,
08:18what is equalizing for all of us
08:20is to understand
08:21that just as women,
08:22full stop as you say here,
08:26I would say period,
08:27but it would be new on
08:28to be honest.
08:32But I think at the end of the day,
08:34as women,
08:35you know,
08:35and as people bringing men
08:36back into that conversation,
08:38that it really is about
08:39the injustices
08:39that we are all experiencing
08:41on so many different levels
08:43and to be able to say
08:44as a united force,
08:46how are we going to tackle those?
08:48Oh, that's right.
08:48How are we going to tackle those?
08:50And so I think,
08:50you know, again,
08:51you can focus on the specificity
08:52of it,
08:53but at the end of the day,
08:54it is a global problem
08:56that we are all dealing with
08:57and that at the same time,
08:58you can see it
08:59as a global challenge
09:00that we are all working to solve.
09:02Great.
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