Many years ago I was given this advice: “Set your own agenda, otherwise someone else will set it for you.” I have carried those words with me ever since.
That's why next week I am leaving the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which I co-founded almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy. First, I'm announcing $1 billion in new spending over the next two years for people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.
In almost 20 years As an advocate for women and girls, I've learned that there will always be those who say this is not the right time to talk about gender equality. Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). Once the global agenda becomes overcrowded, women and girls are left out.
It's frustrating and short-sighted. Decades of research on economy, welfare And management Make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone. We know that economies with full participation of women have more room to grow. That women's political participation is associated with reduced corruption. That peace agreements are more sustainable when women are involved in writing them. That reducing the time women spend in poor health could add as much as $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.
And yet women around the world are seeing a dramatic increase in political violence and other threats to their safety, in conflict zones where rape is used as a tool of war, in Afghanistan, where the Taliban's takeover has reversed two decades of progress for women. and girls, in many low-income countries where the number of acutely malnourished pregnant and lactating women is soaring.
In the United States, Maternal mortality still remains unconscionable, with Black and Native American mothers at greatest risk. Women in fourteen states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under virtually any circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness has been high for a decade.
Despite the urgent need, only about 2 percent of charitable giving in the United States goes to organizations that serve women and girls, and only about half a percentage point goes to organizations that specifically serve women of color.
If we allow this cause to be so chronically underfunded, we will all pay the cost. As shocking as it is to think about it, my one-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I did.
In recent weeks, as part of the $1 billion in new funding I'm committing to these efforts, I began providing new grants through my organization, Pivotal, to groups working across the United States to advance women's rights protect and make progress. their power and influence. These include the National Women's Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
While I have long focused on improving access to contraceptives abroad, in the post-Dobbs era I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home. For too long, a lack of funding has forced organizations fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress take offense. I even want to help the match.
I also experiment with new tactics to bring a broader range of perspectives to philanthropy. I recently offered twelve people whose work I admire their own $20 million grant fund to distribute as he or she sees fit. That group – which also includes former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, athlete and maternal health advocate Allyson Felix, and Afghan girls' education advocate Shabana Basij-Rasikh – represents a wide range of expertise and experience. I'd like to see the landscape of financing opportunities through their eyes, and the results their approach delivers.
In the fall, I will launch a $250 million initiative aimed at improving the mental and physical health of women and girls worldwide. By making an open call to grassroots organizations beyond the reach of major funders, I hope to engage groups with personal connections to the issues they are working on. People on the front lines should get the attention and investment they deserve, including from me.
As a young woman, I never could have imagined that one day I would be part of an effort like this. Because I have been given this extraordinary opportunity, I am determined to do everything I can to seize it and set an agenda that helps other women and girls set theirs as well.
Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist and founder of Pivotal, a charity, investment and advocacy organization.
Source photos by Bryan Bedder, Filipfoto and Westend61, via Getty Images.
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