Melinda Gates pens scathing op-ed explaining why she left Gates Foundation

Melinda French Gates has penned a scathing op-ed explaining why she left the non-profit organisation she founded with ex-husband Bill Gates.

Melinda French Gates has penned a scathing op-ed explaining why she left the non-profit organisation she founded with ex-husband Bill Gates.

Ms French Gates, 59, announced earlier this month she was leaving the influential Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, three years after her divorce from the 68-year-old Microsoft founder.

Under the agreement between the former power couple, Ms French Gates — whose resignation will take effect on June 7 — will receive $US12.5 billion ($18.8 billion) for use on her philanthropic efforts “on behalf of women and families”.

Writing in The New York Times on Tuesday, she revealed further details on where she would be spending her money through her organisation Pivotal — including $US20 million ($30 million) to former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern — and why she felt the need to branch out on her own.

“Many years ago, I received this piece of advice: ‘Set your own agenda, or someone else will set it for you.’ I’ve carried those words with me ever since,” she wrote.

“That’s why, next week, I will leave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, of which I was a co-founder almost 25 years ago, to open a new chapter in my philanthropy. To begin, I am announcing $US1 billion in new spending over the next two years for people and organisations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States.”

Melinda French Gates is founding her own philanthropy foundation. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP

She added that in nearly 20 years advocating for women and girls, “I have learned that there will always be people who say it’s not the right time to talk about gender equality”. “Not if you want to be relevant,” she said.

“Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men). The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off. It’s frustrating and shortsighted. Decades of research on economics, wellbeing and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone.”

According to Ms French Gates, research shows that economies with women’s “full participation have more room to grow”, women’s political participation is “associated with decreased corruption”, peace agreements are “more durable when women are involved in writing them”, and that reducing the time women spend in poor health could add as much as $US1 trillion ($1.5 trillion) to the global economy by 2040.

Her announcement comes in an election year in the US when abortion is expected to play a pivotal role, as Democrats seek to exploit voter dissatisfaction with Republican efforts to restrict access to the procedure.

Ms French Gates has longstanding links to prominent Democratic Party politicians including Hillary Clinton.

She said she had been partially motivated by the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling overturning two landmark abortion rights decisions.

The conservative majority court’s 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organisation ripped up decades of federal abortion rights established by 1973’s Roe v. Wade and 1992’s Planned Parenthood v. Casey, sending the matter back to individual states to legislate.

Abortion-rights activists in front of the Supreme Court in 2022. Picture: Nathan Howard/Getty Images/AFP

“Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate a pregnancy under almost any circumstances,” Ms French Gates wrote.

“As shocking as it is to contemplate, my one-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had … While I have long focused on improving contraceptive access overseas, in the post-Dobbs era, I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home. For too long, a lack of money has forced organisations fighting for women’s rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offence. I want to help even the match.”

The initial $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) in new grants will go towards US-based groups including the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The National Women’s Law Center advocates for women’s rights, managing the MeToo-era Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which provides legal support for victims of sexual harassment, and also advocates for LGBT issues including the inclusion of transgender women and girls in female sports.

The National Domestic Workers Alliance lobbies on behalf of more than 2.2 million nannies, housecleaners and care workers in the US who are “mostly immigrants and women of colour”, calling for a “pathway to citizenship” for the workers and their families.

The Center for Reproductive Rights fights for abortion access in the US and internationally. It claims to have “strengthened reproductive laws and policies in more than 65 countries across five continents” and says its work since 2021 has resulted in 1.7 billion people in 17 countries gaining stronger legal protections for abortion.

Ms French Gates revealed she was also “experimenting with novel tactics to bring a wider range of perspectives into philanthropy”.

Former NZ PM Jacinda Ardern will get a $30 million grant fund. Picture: Ludovic Marin/AFP

“Recently, I offered 12 people whose work I admire their own $US20 million grant-making fund to distribute as he or she sees fit,” she said.

“That group — which includes the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, the athlete and maternal-health advocate Allyson Felix, and an Afghan champion of girls’ education, Shabana Basij-Rasikh — represents a wide range of expertise and experience. I’m eager to see the landscape of funding opportunities through their eyes, and the results their approaches unlock.”

Later this year she will also launch a $US250 million ($376 million) initiative focused on “improving the mental and physical health of women and girls globally”.

“As a young woman, I could never have imagined that one day I would be part of an effort like this,” she said.

“Because I have been given this extraordinary opportunity, I am determined to do everything I can to seize it and to set an agenda that helps other women and girls set theirs, too.”

Ms Clinton, the former Secretary of State and presidential candidate, reacted to Ms French Gates’ announcement earlier this month.

“Melinda, this is so exciting,” she wrote on X. “Thanks for everything you’ve already done, and I can’t wait to see all you do next. Onward!”

Bill Gates married Melinda French in 1994. The couple have three children together, but announced their divorce in 2021.

At the time, reports emerged that her decision to start divorce proceedings was linked to Mr Gates’ relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his New York prison cell in August 2019.

Mr Gates has previously said he “regrets” his meetings with Epstein — which he sad were to discuss fundraising and philanthropy — describing them as a “mistake” and “regrettable”.

Bill Gates thanked his ex-wife for her ‘critical contributions’. Picture: Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP

Following the divorce, the pair had continued to co-chair the foundation they set up using the vast wealth acquired through the success of Microsoft.

But the break in leadership had always been a possibility.

In July 2021, the Seattle-based foundation announced that while the pair would continue to work together in the aftermath of their marital separation, the arrangement was subject to review.

“If after two years either decides they cannot continue to work together as co-chairs, French Gates will resign her position as co-chair and trustee,” a statement at the time said. “In such a case, French Gates would receive personal resources from Gates for her philanthropic work. These resources would be completely separate from the foundation’s endowment, which would not be affected.”

With a focus on child poverty and preventable diseases, the foundation has been heavily involved in the fight against malaria and in providing toilets and sanitation in poorer parts of the world.

The foundation’s website says it has spent $US53.8 billion ($81 billion) since 2000, and claims the number of children around the world who die before their fifth birthday has halved in this time.

Mr Gates thanked his ex-wife for her “critical contributions” to the organisation.

“As a co-founder and co-chair Melinda has been instrumental in shaping our strategies and initiatives, significantly impacting global health and gender equality,” he said.

“I am sorry to see Melinda leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”

The organisation’s chief executive, Mark Suzman, said its name would change to simply the Gates Foundation.

“I truly admire Melinda, and the critical role she has played in starting the foundation and in setting our values, she has played an essential role in all that we’ve accomplished over the past 24 years,” he said in a video posted to social media.

“I will miss working with her and learning from her. I look forward to seeing her continued impact.”

— with AFP