Why are we celebrating the end of Meghan’s career?

NOTHING about Meghan Markle fits the Windsor bride model, but like Diana, Kate and Fergie before her, she’s willing to end her career in exchange for marriage.

ON International Women’s Day in 2015, actor Meghan Markle delivered a speech at the UN Women Summit that spoke not only about how far women have come in the fight for equality, but also of the road still ahead.

“It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision. May we empower each other to carry out such vision — because it isn’t enough to simply talk about equality. One must believe it,” she said.

Last week, the 36-year-old reportedly announced to the producers of the hit television series Suits — in which she has starred for seven seasons — that come next month, she will no longer be returning to reprise her role as lawyer Rachel Zane.

She is instead, it is understood, stepping down from the career she has spent more than a decade building to focus on her blossoming relationship with Prince Harry.

Overwhelmingly, the world has responded to the news not with cries of sexism, but rather with cheers and excitement about the prospect of another televised wedding.

It is rumoured that Meghan and Harry could announce their engagement within the month. (Pic: AFP/Getty.)

The outdated double standard that requires a woman marrying into the Windsor family to abandon their careers is nothing new. In fact, it’s a time-honoured royal-to-be tradition.

Princess Diana (the first woman to ever hold employment prior to entering the Windsor dynasty) resigned from her job in the months leading up to her 1981 marriage to Prince Charles, as did the Duchess of York in 1986.

The Countess of Wessex broke rank for a period after marrying Prince Edward, continuing to work for the PR company she co-founded, but resigned shortly after an unfavourable but “completely untrue” story involving her came to light.

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Kate Middleton, now the Duchess of Cambridge, also resigned from the position she held within her parent’s business in the lead up to her nuptials with Prince William.

And now we arrive at Meghan Markle, a woman who in just about every way is not your average royal.

Markle spoke about her relationship with Harry for the first time in Vanity Fair's October issue. (Pic: Peter Lindbergh for Vanity Fair.)

For starters, she’s an American divorcee and an outspoken advocate for gender equality and human rights. She has an established acting career, stands alone in her star power, and up until recently, ran her own lifestyle blog.

Nothing about her fits the suitable Windsor bride model, and yet, that’s exactly why the public and Prince Harry seem to love her so much. And while in some ways it shouldn’t be surprising that she is now towing the line by leaving her profession behind, in many ways, it is.

As feminists, we’re told to respect a woman’s right to choice. That it’s a woman’s right to pursue her dreams, whatever they may be. That it’s a woman’s right to turn those dreams into a vision that can then be carried out. That it’s a woman’s right to marry, if she chooses and the law permits, whenever and to whomever she chooses. That it’s a woman’s right to work if and when she wants. That it’s a woman’s right to wait tables for years while chasing her dreams, as Markle did, rather than give up and go home.

But when that choice suddenly involves abandoning years of hard work simply to fit into the world of the man you love? Well, that’s an infinitely harder pill to swallow.

Markle is said to be wrapping up her role in Suits next month. (Pic: Chris Jackson/Getty.)

By meeting the news with whooping claps and jumps for joy, we’re invariably accepting that the battle for equality can be placed to one side when tiaras and titles are involved. That if the story is that of a Disney movie playing out in real life, all of those pesky struggles women have endured since the dawn of time can be put on hold for later and revisited at a later date, preferably at another UN conference some time in the future.

If the rumours are to be believed, Markle has clearly made her choice. And whether or not we choose to respect her for it, the one thing it does is prove that for as long as we applaud and cheer for women who leave their careers behind to pursue a fairytale romance that includes Prince Charming’s and palaces, that road to equality Markle talked about back in 2015 is just as long and winding as it ever was.

@katyhallway