‘Girls have the power to change the world’: Priyanka Chopra

Priyanka Chopra has achieved an immense amount of success not just as an actor, but also for her philanthropic ventures. Chopra is a role model for the youth and an icon in her own right.
Variety honoured her at their ‘Power of Women’ event in 2017 — and her speech is one for the books.
If you ever feel underestimated as a girl, if you’ve ever doubted your potential or worthiness as a woman, this one’s for you.

She begins her speech talking about her roots and background, and how she was born to incredible parents. “Me and my brother were given equal opportunities,” she says, and adds how that was a privilege. She then reflects on how her parents always taught her the importance of giving back. “They would say it (giving back) was not just a choice, it was a way of life,” she says.
She then talks about how the simplest things dinguished men and women. Girls were pulled out of school while boys weren’t. She was told that she was ‘replaceable’ in the entertainment industry, because she was a girl.
“So I decided to become irreplaceable,” she smiles. One thing that really blew her mind, though, was an encounter with her housekeeper’s daughter. The mother couldn’t afford to send all her kids to school so she chose her sons, because she said the girl would eventually get married.
“This shook me to my core.” The actor says she took on her housekeeper’s daughter’s expenses and sent her to school, and this was her inspiration behind starting her foundation and partnering with UNICEF.
“Girls have the power to change the world. Yet, girls are less likely to learn how to read and write than boys. A girl’s education empowers families, communities and economies,” she says.
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