By Yousra Bachine
The tragic death of Mahsa Amini has had a critical impact on the rights of women, not only in Iran but worldwide.
Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman, dies in police custody, three days after her arrest by the Iranian morality police for wearing her veil ”incorrectly”.
Since her death, numerous demonstrations have taken place worldwide to support the rights of women in Iran. During these demonstrations, women burned their veils in protest against the morality police and the Iranian government, which still has not granted women the rights or freedoms that they have been fighting for since 1979.
Many personality stars all over the world have used their platform to speak about Mahsa Amini and the women in Iran, so people are aware of the situation.
Among these celebrities was Meghan Markle. Meghan Markle is known to be a strong minded woman since her childhood. She has spoken out as a feminist about defending women’s rights. Meghan Markle has always used her platform to promote women’s rights and to empower women that are not able to speak for themselves. The last major example of Meghan Markle’s strong mind was the moment when she decided to cut ties with the British Royal family, it takes a powerful women to take such a decision. It does also take a powerful women to support women of the world and women who can not speak for themselves.
Meghan Markle wore a shirt that recognised the struggle that Iranian women are going through. Proudly in white on a black t-shirt : “Zan zindgi azadi” was written on her shirt in Farsi, which means, “Women life freedom”.
She wore the slogan during the Women@Sportify event held in Los Angeles where she praised the courage and the strength of women of Iran, and how it is important today for all the women in the world to have freedom of choice and their basic human rights. Speaking of Spotify, Meghan Markle has her own podcast on the platform called Archetypes where she opens up on all kinds of topics regarding her own life, women empowerment and even mental health for instance.
It is important and necessary that women that have influence are using their platforms and their voice for those voiceless women and for the issues that they are facing. But the most important message to remember is that woman are free to make their own decisions and it must be so in the whole word, freedom of choice and basic rights are for women too. No one has the right to decide for women or tell them what to wear and what to do.
