Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

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

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 [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

A message from our Publisher & CEO 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.

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

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.