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A never-before-seen video of Duchess Meghan during a charity trip to India has emerged

Shortly after her relationship with Prince Harry went public, the former actress travelled to India with World Vision to promote gender equality.
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A never-before-seen video of Duchess Meghan has been released by World Vision, which documents her time spent during a trip to India, to promote gender equality and girl’s access to education.

While Meghan’s trip with World Vision to Rwanda in 2016 has been well documented, the charity today released more images and footage of the Duchess’ trip to Delhi and Mumbai in January 2017, just after her relationship with Prince Harry had become public.

The Duchess, who is currently expecting the birth of her first child any day now, was filmed painting murals at schools with schoolchildren, planting flowers and meeting with the community who had benefited from the charity’s work.

In the video Meghan can be seen planting flowers and painting signs with schoolchildren. (Image: World Vision)

Much like the charity work and patronages she holds today, Meghan’s focus was on gender equality, particularly surrounding girl’s access to education.

In the video Meghan spoke to the camera saying: “What we found is that the enrolment at this school went up three times once the latrines were built so that girls had access to clean hygiene and bathroom facilities while they’re at school.”

According to ITV News it was during this trip that Meghan was introduced to the Myna Mahila Foundation, an organisation which works with women and girls in Mumbai’s urban slums.

The organisation works to empower women by encouraging discussion of taboo subjects such as menstruation and setting up workshops to produce low-cost sanitary protection to enable girls to stay in school.

Myna Mahila Foundation was one of the seven charities Meghan and Harry asked donations to made to, lieu of wedding gifts.

Meghan spoke with local women and girls about the stigma surrounding menstruation and how it affects their ability to pursue education. (Image: World Vision)

Following the trip, Meghan wrote an article for Time Magazine titled ‘How Periods Affect Potential’.

“Imagine a world where the female leaders we revere never achieved their full potential because they dropped out of school at the age of thirteen,” she wrote.

“In the Western world this is challenging to fathom, but for millions of young women globally, this remains their harsh reality for a staggering reason.”

Meghan goes on to discuss how the stigma surrounding menstruation and the lack of access to proper sanitation directly inhibits young women from pursuing an education.

In India, 113 million girls between the ages of 12 and 14 are at risk of dropping out of school because of the stigma surrounding menstrual health and without facilities like bathrooms available to them and no access to sanitary products, Meghan explained.

“Beyond India, in communities all over the globe, our girls’ potential is being squandered because we are too shy to talk about the most natural thing in the world,” she wrote.

“Wasted opportunity is unacceptable with stakes this high.

“To break the cycle of poverty, and to achieve economic growth and sustainability in developing countries, young women need access to education.

“When we empower girls hungry for education, we cultivate women who are emboldened to effect change within their communities and globally,” she adds.

“If that is our dream for them, then the promise of it must begin with us. Period.”

Meghan has long been an advocate for gender equality. (Image: World Vision)

Meghan has long been a passionate feminist, advocating for gender equality and this has also been reflected in some of the patronages she received earlier this year.

One of these is SmartWorks, an organisation which helps long term, unemployed and vulnerable women regain the skills, confidence and tools to succeed at job interviews, return to employment and turn lives around.

Meghan sitting on an International Women’s Day panel this year. (Image: Getty)

On International Women’s Day the Duchess also sat on a panel discussion convened by The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, accompanied by other influential women including musician and activist Annie Lennox OBE and former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, who is currently the Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London.

During the discussion she also revealed she hopes her baby will be a feminist too, “boy or girl, whatever it is, we hope that’s the case,” she said.

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