Meghan’s birthday video

[Greenlittle]

I like the idea and I like the video. (Not that keen on the big desk) And I though MM looked...alive!

Not sure who the other woman was. But there was good chemistry.

'At the height of Meghan bullying by the press Stormzy came to her defence. So I doubt he would be impressed with being praised and compared to Meghan in this way.'

What? So you speak for stornzy. Riiiiight.

My inconvenient point is, his initiative of actually offering practical support in the form of funding is of much greater benefit obviously than a bunch of people head patting and 'mentoring'.

Do something. Stop talking about it whilst shining lights upon oneselves

UnrivaledJoyofStarGazing
I agree with you. It's precisely because so many celebrity public figures jump from hot topic to hot topic that I'm quite cynical when I see yet another rich person pet project.

Where a public figure knows their stuff in an area, has experience in a field, and devotes a lot of time to engaging with the tricky issues and working with experts in that specific field then I'm more optimistic.

Markus Rashford is an example of how this sort of philanthropy can really work. He chose a topic that is genuinely close to his own heart and he created real change. He followed through. People get behind this as they can see the real world benefit. I say the same for the work Joanna Lumley has done for the Gurkhas. You can sense the passion.

If a Celebrity jumps from cause to cause, typically in the company of a a wider group of 'cool' public figures or other celebrities - it does not feel authentic in the same way. It feels like PR.

'And the talk of ‘create a ripple effect’ makes me roll my eyes. If you want people to step up and volunteer their time, then you have to facilitate that, not just send out positive vibes into the ether. I don’t understand why she didn’t simply highlight one of the wonderful mentoring charities that already exist, and encourage her friends to sign up and donate their time and money. '

Absolutely this. Though the virtue signalling possibly not quite as fulfilling if they're just anonymously coughing up rather than putting their names on a vair special list.

*I didn't dismiss it as a lefty argument, I described my experience of lefty MC men making big expansive statements instead of changing one iota of the actual status quo (which of course suited them very nicely).
*This project also makes big expansive statements instead of changing one iota of the status quo, this is the problem. Only it's also not addressing the structural reasons for these problems. The pandemic is not disproportionately affecting women's employment because of a lack of mentoring or inspiration or confidence. Suggesting that it is, especially with such a huge public profile, just reinforces systemic inequality. It's surely worse than a bloke in a pub acknowledging it exists but not doing anything about it. Of course both approaches suit man in pub nicely.

When has Kate addressed it, sitting as she does in the top most branches of the UK privilege tree?

If this is Kate the DoC, I don't know much about her so can't help. But I did say that challenging inequality is not Meghan's responsibility. She can do or not do whatever she wants. It's just a pity when someone's use of their profile reinforces part of the problem.

You failed to address my point. Pontificating about the big issues in the abstract achieved nothing. Grassroots campaigns supporting individual women did achieve something, albeit something which men have been pushing hard to roll back in recent years.
I don't believe I suggested anyone should pontificate. Expecting Megan (or anyone) to devote many thankless years to systemic change for women is a bit much, even if she is better placed than most to give it a go. But if she at least acknowledged why these problems are there, other people might stop and think, and they might try to do something about it.

I’m sure organising this takes more than 40 min and I’m sure Mm will also mentor. She probably does that already.

What I don’t understand if the criticism about childcare vouchers and job creation. That is the job of government and public policy. And charities have a role as well.

As individuals, we can form networks and mentor each other. Sounds reasonable. Why criticise? I mentor and if someone dissed my efforts and told me I was being patronising and I should be providing jobs and childcare vouchers and training husbands to step up and dismantling patriarchy. Well, I would tell them they are welcome to start their own initiative doing that 😃

@Greenlittle

I’m sure organising this takes more than 40 min and I’m sure Mm will also mentor. She probably does that already.

What I don’t understand if the criticism about childcare vouchers and job creation. That is the job of government and public policy. And charities have a role as well.

As individuals, we can form networks and mentor each other. Sounds reasonable. Why criticise? I mentor and if someone dissed my efforts and told me I was being patronising and I should be providing jobs and childcare vouchers and training husbands to step up and dismantling patriarchy. Well, I would tell them they are welcome to start their own initiative doing that 😃

You’re not getting the shift that is already happening.

@UnrivaledJoyofStarGazing

I think she came across as a lot more likeable in this video than previous ones - she was not taking herself too seriously.

My gut reaction to this, however, is that it is more about PR for the Sussex brand than it is about genuinely helping others. As others have said, this is not a Harry and Meghan thing - it is a 'Celeb' thing and I think a lot of people are getting tired of it, as it feels like tokenism.

Only weeks ago they were pushing Vaccine distribution to poorer nations (along with lots of other Celebs) - what came of that? Then there was the clean up of social media. Eco Tourism? Now its woman returning to work. All great initiatives but all I remember are the soundbites and the promotional videos.

In order to convince people of their 'authenticity' they need to follow through and show the results of these initiatives otherwise it all feels rather hollow and meaningless - and to be honest patronising.

I think of all of the people that I know who are seeking work or worried about the stability of their current jobs. I can't see how 40 minutes of mentoring from someone unrelated to their current field would realistically help them. I hope to be proved wrong though - I will take back my words if we see a follow up on this in the future showing how real people have been genuinely helped through this initiative.

Some of the people who have put themselves up to mentor are women in countries like Kenya , Uganda, South Africa & even Pakistan. A diverse group of women who are definitely not just celebs and make a difference already in their communities. I don’t feel patronised at all by these women, or by Meghan’s involvement. She does not need to prove herself to the some here like before. It’s so so funny though how other royals get this huge pass on here and yet they have put big ambitions initiatives out there. Archewell is what one year old? , I say she has years to come into her own. Fair is fair

UnrivaledJoyofStarGazing
Plus Marcus Rashford didn't take the view that children living in poverty was a problem so other people need to give their time to boost parents' confidence in the kitchen, or parents needed to go to a cookery workshop.
His campaign was focused on systemic issues and the impact of systemic issues on children and families. The onus of responsibility was placed on the government. After pushing for a scheme, he's then used his platform to get chefs involved and yesterday was speaking out about how HCP and people working with families need to support families accessing the programme.

@JaniieJones

'At the height of Meghan bullying by the press Stormzy came to her defence. So I doubt he would be impressed with being praised and compared to Meghan in this way.'

What? So you speak for stornzy. Riiiiight.

My inconvenient point is, his initiative of actually offering practical support in the form of funding is of much greater benefit obviously than a bunch of people head patting and 'mentoring'.

Do something. Stop talking about it whilst shining lights upon oneselves

My point is Meghan has done something, they have donated to various charities just over the past year. So it’s not like only Stormzy has done something.

I don’t speak for Stormzy but nah doubt he would appreciate his good deeds being used as a stick to bash Meghan with. Hence why I mentioned that he did in fact defend her and actually caught some heat for doing but did it anyway.

' if someone dissed my efforts and told me I was being patronising and I should be providing jobs and childcare vouchers and training husbands to step up and dismantling patriarchy. Well, I would tell them they are welcome to start their own initiative doing that'

Mentoring is lovely. Well done you.

However practical help is needed not someone giving patronising advice. So yes people do need to start initiatives offering actual practical help to 'mobilise women' into the workplace. Lets hope a high profile privileged person will follow Stormzy's lead and do something worthwhile and useful. Gorgeous clips of gorgeous people lolling with celeb pals is, as always with this pair, tone deaf.

But M does acknowledge this - a PP stated that she didn't acknowledge this and if she had then they wouldn't mind so much.

No, she doesn't acknowledge the structural change that is needed. She says things are bad for women so let's do some mentoring and build some confidence. This is the issue - the idea that the problem is that an individual woman is not quite good enough in some way so let's improve her. That is not the right solution imo, because it's not actually addressing the problem. Plus the more people take this approach without challenging the real issues, the more entrenched the idea of individual responsibility becomes and the less likely it is that things will change.

I expect it's neither here nor there to her whether the programme actually helps anyone. She is building her brand as a "mobiliser of compassion", shown by the glossy setting, perfect hair/make-up/wardrobe/surgical tweaks, famous contacts and professional and expensive launch video. She is benefitting more than anyone, virtue signalling her way into everyone's subconscious. It's quite clever and she's happy to self-promote, she has huge self-belief, and there is the potential to do some good along the way, but mostly, she is doing good for herself. The question is whether she has the credibility, and I think she really doesn't. She comes across as hypocritical and patronising and is unlikeable, she demonstrates the polar opposite of the Diana effect. I suspect that is why her otherwise clever business model will fail.

@hangonamo

But M does acknowledge this - a PP stated that she didn't acknowledge this and if she had then they wouldn't mind so much.

No, she doesn't acknowledge the structural change that is needed. She says things are bad for women so let's do some mentoring and build some confidence. This is the issue - the idea that the problem is that an individual woman is not quite good enough in some way so let's improve her. That is not the right solution imo, because it's not actually addressing the problem. Plus the more people take this approach without challenging the real issues, the more entrenched the idea of individual responsibility becomes and the less likely it is that things will change.

What’s your point? We don’t do anything to help at an individual level till we have a glorious revolution? 😂

I agree with pp who said MM is building a compassion brand. I’m old enough to know that people have multiple motives and not all altruistic.

If all boats rise, mm gets her brand, women get support. Well, that’s a win-win.

With the RF in general I think it is not a win-win. They get our money to further entrench a patriarchy that benefits them. I have issues with this.

A celeb supporting humans , animals, environment or what ever with their own money? Go for it!

But they are not supporting these charities with their own money.

My point is that someone with a huge public profile suggesting that mentoring is the solution to the disproportionate effect the pandemic has had on women's employment is not helpful. It's harmful, because it reinforces the idea that women are not as successful as men because they are not good enough.

(I have made this argument several times now and people either don't understand it or pretend not to, so I will try to stop now!)

if Meghan found the cure for cancer she would still be ripped apart.
how does anyone on here know it will be patronising?
imo some people will jump on anything to take her down.
also why are all the "good" examples of people that she should be like black??!!!!!!

Perhaps, but they are not using my taxpayer money either! That’s what I care about.

When I see Kate or Will at the Wimbledon or a gala event I think hmmm, I don’t like that us taxpayers are paying for it.

Any celeb not funded by tax payers, do what ever you want. And if you help anyone with private funds, great.

Mentoring is definitely one of the solutions needed. It is a way of countering the old boys network.

If you want to play victim and think that efforts to build individual initiative are. A problem, well sit back and wait for your external change.

It is like saying don’t teach girls self defence because it gives men a free pass to be violent. It really doesn’t

@hangonamo
The point we have made the point several times instead she is NOT stating it is the solution or one of the solutions -that's what you are making up. It is a step amongst many other steps . I agree she is building her brand at the same time and so are many others and it is quite clear she has a lifestyle to maintain but while she is doing it she is using a platform to help others in a way that sells for her and others that the brand supports. To be honest she would not be be able to do the work to help others if she was not building her brand - that is the attraction for many of her supporters. So I can't understand how you expect her to do this well without her also developing her brand

Giver over yourself lol.

A free pass? Setting the whole thing up, getting these people onboard, managing it, giving feedback on its progress and by the way, there are many famous actors in the 40 who are far more well known and not a suitcase Z list actress (as people refer to Meghan on here)... I am sure they can help the aspiring actors coming through on this.
But hey... a huge flaw with this programme! Forget the Nobel prize nominee, the Poet Laureate, the Senators,the scientists and doctors, the wife of President of Canada... shock horror Meghan hasn't pledged to do her 40 minutes! Scrap the whole programme, not fair then!

Rainy... this is desperation.

It just struck me, Eugenie has signed up for it. Why not Kate? Surely she could use her early years experience and contacts to help women?

Gorgeous clips of gorgeous people lolling with celeb pals is, as always with this pair, tone deaf

Apart from the video launching that, where has that been? I didn't see Amanda Gorman or HIllary Clinton 'lolling' together, or Stacey Abrams 'lolling' with Dr. Kendi

Some of the criticism on here is quite frankly.... embarrassing.