(Los Angeles) Melinda French Gates, the ex-wife of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, announced Tuesday that she would donate $1 billion to people and organizations working for women’s causes.
The announcement comes at a time when left-wing activists and elected officials in the United States are denouncing a decline in women’s rights in the country, particularly in the face of increasing abortion bans in different states.
“In nearly 20 years as an activist for women and girls, I have learned that there will always be people who say that now is not the right time to talk about gender equality,” said the philanthropist in a column of the New York Times.
“It’s frustrating and it’s short-sighted,” she adds.
The one who chaired the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the most influential philanthropic foundations in the world, announced two weeks ago that she was going to leave this organization created with her ex-husband, one of the founders of Microsoft , Bill Gates.
His last day within this organization, particularly committed to health and poverty reduction, will be June 7.
“The time has come for me to tackle the next chapter of my philanthropy,” explained Melinda French Gates in mid-May, adding that she would have $12.5 billion to engage “with women and families”.
On Tuesday, she specified that a first tranche of one billion dollars would be paid through scholarships and grants through her organization, Pivotal, “to groups working in the United States to protect women’s rights and advance their power and influence.
Melinda French Gates affirms in her column that since the decision of the American Supreme Court in 2022 deciding to cancel the federal guarantee of the right to abortion, she felt the need to redirect some of her funding towards women’s reproductive rights in the United States, not just abroad.
“For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women’s rights to adopt a defensive posture while the enemies of progress have gone on the offensive, I want to help rebalance the balance of power.”
The question of the right to abortion has emerged as a major subject in the presidential campaign in the United States, with Joe Biden and the Democrats wanting to take advantage of the dissatisfaction of a majority of the American electorate with the restrictions introduced in a twenty states.