The Moment of Lift

Melinda Gates is a powerful advocate for women and girls, and she has the rare ability to fund the causes she supports. The work of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is her primary subject here, a commitment she has announced she will continue to pursue despite her pending divorce. Seeking to make a big impact through the Foundation, she realized – as she writes here – that it could most effectively help families and communities by helping women and girls. Gates focuses on lifting up women and helping their families escape poverty.

The primary causes of poverty and illness, are the cultural, financial and legal restrictions that block what women can do – and think they can do – for themselves and their children.Melinda Gates

Gates’s insights aren’t new, but her abilities and her dedication to backing up her beliefs with donations seem extraordinary. She writes that it took her years to realize that she’s a full-fledged feminist, but her dedication to gender equity and to doing the most good for the most people underlie her Foundation initiatives. Her voice comes across as firm and sure, and she strengthens her calls to action by including people from multiple groups. Gates illuminates the way intelligent investments in women and girls elevate societies. Those curious about her evolution as a feminist will find her thoughts particularly intriguing.