The Moment Of Lift

How Empowering Women Changes the World

Melinda Gates 2019, BeavLib 305.42 GAT

Bill and Melinda Gates founded the (second) Gates foundation in 2000. Including contributions from Warren Buffet, the endowment is approximately $36B. After leaving Microsoft, the foundation and their children are their principal focus.

"Lift" focuses on economic and family planning opportunities for women in the developing world. Opportunity means education for mothers and children, freedom of movement, contraceptive timing of births, medical care, and respect. For these mothers, a better future for their children is paramount; they cannot offer that if they die in childbirth. The book is based on the idea that educated and empowered women will raise more successful children, and their children will earn greater success.

Many examples of the "I was here in this village and saw this". Good for illustrating the central theme, but a month after reading the book they blur together. Chapters grouped by theme, but no index; this is a book to lend to friends, but not useful for reference.

I hope very much that the examples in the book will be outdated in a generation. Humanity will always face problems, but hopefully these problems will fade into the past. Sadly, since most of these problems emerge from stupid ideologies, they will re-emerge from different stupid ideologies.