'How Many Photos Do You Have of Princesses Doing Technical Things?' Meghan Markle Urges Girls to Break Stereotypes
Meghan Markle is inspiring girls everywhere to break gender stereotypes on International Women’s Day.
During her visit to Birmingham with Prince Harry on Thursday, the couple encouraged a group of young students to to follow careers in science, technology, engineering and math and they took part in a series of tech activities from the Stemettes program.
“I love being here to see this on International Women’s Day,” Meghan, 36, told them. “You’re using your brain in a really challenging way.”
Harry and Meghan watched as the teen girls placed wires from a laptop computer to a banana, to connect it to make it work as digital bongos. Harry told his fiancée, “I was going to try and help but…” before laughing and showing her the instructions.
Today ninety girls were given the opportunity by @stemettes to learn HTML coding, as well as how to build apps and touchpads. pic.twitter.com/OUMrMgtHoi
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 8, 2018
“You must have brains the size of a planet,” he said. “And you can’t just come in today, do this and leave. You’ve got to carry it on.”
Meghan then praised her three new companions for saying they aimed to be a “surgeon, doctor and doctor.”
“It’s cool that you’re so interested in tech,” she told another group of girls. “That’s really impressive.”
To celebrate #IWD2018, Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are attending an event hosted by @Stemettes that aims to inspire the next generation of women to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). pic.twitter.com/7A5pqrZeZO
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) March 8, 2018
Harry and Meghan were then shown a program called “Hack The Web,” which allows girls to use coding to temporarily change web messages, Meghan said, “You can hack it and change things that are untrue into something positive? That’s so cool.
“It’s amazing to see so much young talent, so much confidence. It’s such a strong program.”
Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, Chief Executive Officer of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise working across the U.K. and Ireland and beyond to inspire and support young women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths careers (STEM), praised the couple for taking part in Thursday’s activities.
“How many photos do you have of princesses doing technical things?” she said. “You barely see pictures of women doing technical things, let alone princesses.
“You can’t be what you can’t see. To see her do it and see that she’s enjoying it, it sends a message.”
