In an incendiary essay Tuesday, Melinda French Gates lamented the “frustrating and shortsighted” lack of philanthropic support for women’s rights and implicitly criticized her ex-husband, Bill Gates.
French Gates, who received $12.5 billion after her surprise departure from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last month, said her new charity will donate $1 billion over the next two years to causes that support women, families and reproductive rights.
She suggested this was a cause she was previously dissuaded from pursuing when she was partnered with the Microsoft founder and fifth-richest man in the world, but they divorced in 2021.
“In my nearly 20 years working as an advocate for women and girls, I’ve learned that there will always be people who say it’s too early to talk about gender equality,” French Gates said. The New York Times.
“Not if you want to matter. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of whom are men),” French Gates wrote. “As soon as the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls are left out. It’s frustrating and shortsighted.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $77 billion since its founding in 2000.
In 2021, The organization has invested $2.1 billion According to the announcement at the time, the move was made “to promote gender equality worldwide.”
But she reiterated the point that there is an overall lack of funding targeted at women.
“Only about 2 percent of charitable donations in the United States go to organizations that focus on women and girls, and only about 0.5 percent go to organizations that specifically focus on women of color,” she writes.
“If this work is chronically underfunded, we all pay the price. It’s shocking to think, but my one-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I did,” she added.
French Gates, who split with the tech mogul shortly after his links to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein were reported, also detailed how his newly founded charity, Pivotal Ventures, plans to fill the funding gap.
According to her essay and a statement from her organization, the $1 billion in funding through 2026 also includes $200 million in grants to organizations “working to protect women’s rights and increase women’s power and influence in the United States.”
French Gates cited a range of concerns that prompted her to take action, including “conscientious” maternal mortality rates, the nation’s lack of paid family leave and rising mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts, among teenage girls.
“While I have long focused on improving access to contraception abroad, in the post-Dobbs era I feel compelled to support reproductive rights at home,” Gates wrote, referring to the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade.
“For too long, a lack of funding has put organizations fighting for women’s rights on the defensive and forced the enemies of progress to go on the offensive. I want to help balance this battle,” Gates added.
The National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights have all received grant funding.
French Gates also said he would offer a $20 million grant fund to 12 individuals “whose work I admire” and let them decide how to spend the money.
Honorees include former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, US Olympian Allyson Felix and film director Ava DuVernay.
Additionally, FrenchGates will be launching a $250 million initiative this fall to support efforts to “improve the mental and physical health of women and girls around the world.”
“By opening up to grassroots organizations that are beyond the reach of larger donors, I hope to support groups that are personally connected to the issues they are working on,” French Gates said. “Those on the front lines, including myself, deserve the attention and investment they deserve.”
Bill Gates will serve as sole chairman of his charity, which will change its name to the Gates Foundation, following the departure of his ex-wife.
“I am sad to see Melinda go, but I am confident she will have a powerful impact on our philanthropic efforts in the future,” Gates said in a post on X.
When news of their separation first broke in 2021, French-Gates wrote that their marriage had “irretrievably broken.”
The divorce was finalized amid intense scrutiny for Gates’ past relationship with Epstein, who died in prison in 2019.
Gates acknowledged that he had “several dinners” with the sex offender in early 2010 while he was trying to raise money for the Gates Foundation.
“I didn’t realise at the time that having those meetings was going to give him any credibility. It was almost like saying, ‘I condone that kind of behaviour,'” Gates said in a 2022 interview with British media. Times“So, obviously, I made a big mistake not realizing that.”
Meanwhile, French Gates told CBS in March 2022 that her ex-spouse’s relationship with Epstein influenced their eventual separation and divorce.
“There was a lot going on, but I didn’t like the fact that he was meeting with Jeffrey Epstein,” French Gates said. “I made that very clear to him.”
