Melinda French Gates announces $1 billion donation to support women and families, including reproductive rights

Philanthropist Melinda French Gates will donate $1 billion over the next two years to support women and families, including reproductive rights, as she nearby of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she helped co-found nearly 25 years ago.

In a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday, French Gates, whose last day with the foundation is June 7, said she was committed to championing the causes of women and girls.

“While I have long focused on increasing access to contraceptives abroad, in the post-Dobbs era I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home,” French Gates said in his editorial. “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 play offense. I want to help level the game.”

French Gates said that as part of the funding, she is leading new grants through her organization, Pivotal. The grants will “go to groups working across the United States to protect women’s rights and advance their power and influence. These include the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the Center for Reproductive Rights “.

French Gates said she was motivated to make the donation in part because of the racial gap in female mortality rates.

“In the USA, maternal mortality rates remain unacceptable, with Black and Native American mothers most at risk. In 14 states, women lost the right to terminate pregnancies in almost all circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of national paid family leave. And the number of teenage girls with suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at its highest level in a decade. »

According to the Women’s and Girls’ Index, published by the Women’s Philanthropy Institute, donations to women’s and girls’ organizations represent less than 2% of philanthropic support.

“Despite the pressing need, only about 2 percent of charitable donations in the United States go to organizations focused on women and girls, and only about half a percentage point goes to organizations focused specifically on women of color When we allow this cause to go so chronically underfunded, we all pay the price,” French Gates said. “As shocking as it may seem, my one-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than me.”

French Gates said the billion-dollar investment includes $200 million in grants aimed at expanding the work of organizations fighting to advance women’s power and protect their rights, including reproductive rights, and 250 million dollars that will be awarded later this fall to organizations working to improve the mental and physical health of women around the world.

“As a young woman, I could never have imagined that one day I would be part of such an effort,” French Gates said. “Because I have been given this extraordinary opportunity, I am determined to do everything I can to seize it and establish a program that will help other women and girls define theirs.”