Meghan Markle Was 11 When She And Gloria Allred Became Feminist Collaborators

Meghan Markle and Gloria Allred Image by GETTY IMAGES/FORWARD MONTAGE

By Jenny Singer August 13, 2018

All this time, rising royal Meghan Markle and hardboiled feminist lawyer Gloria Allred have been in cahoots! Markle’s ascent to British nobility is no less than a deep-state plot to install hardened feminists in positions of power with their ruthless lawyers standing by.

Well, not so fast. The truth is still cool though. In 1992, when Markle was 11 years old, she famously wrote to Proctor & Gamble, appealing to them to change an advertisement that marketed household cleaning supplies exclusively to women. “I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just mom does everything,” she told Nick News. No, a massive corporation was not so receptive to the criticism of an 11-year-old girl — until Markle wrote to Jewish lawyer and celebrated feminist Gloria Allred, who helped make the change possible.

“Meghan was action-oriented and wanted to know what she could do,” Allred told People.

We’re still holding out for a feminist conspiracy, but we’re action-oriented too, and we’ll take what we can get.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO