A GATES BASHER
Melinda hits Bill charity’s gal di$$
Melinda French Gates took a thinly veiled shot at former husband Bill Gates, lamenting a “frustrating and shortsighted” lack of charitable support for women’s rights in an incendiary essay Tuesday.
French Gates — who received $12.5 billon after her shock exit last month from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — said her new charity will donate $1 billion over the next two years to causes benefiting women, family and reproductive rights.
She suggested that it was a cause she was discouraged from pursuing earlier when she was partnered with the Microsoft founder and world’s fifth-richest man, whom she divorced in 2021.
“In nearly 20 years as an advocate 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,” French Gates said in an op-ed published by The New York Times.
“Not if you want to be relevant. Not if you want to be effective with world leaders (most of them men),” French Gates wrote. “The second the global agenda gets crowded, women and girls fall off. It’s frustrating and shortsighted.”
‘Filling the void’
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated $77 billion since it was founded in 2000.
In 2021, the organization committed $2.1 billion “to advance gender equality globally,” according to a release at the time.
But she hammered away at the overall lack of funds targeting women.
“Only about 2 percent of charitable giving in the United States goes to organizations focused on women and girls, and only about half a percentage point goes to organizations focused on women of color specifically,” she wrote.
“When we allow this cause to go so chronically underfunded, we all pay the cost. As shocking as it is to contemplate, my 1-year-old granddaughter may grow up with fewer rights than I had,” she added.
French Gates — who split with the tech mogul shortly after reports tied him to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — also revealed specifics about how her newly formed charitable group Pivotal Venture plans to fill the funding void.
The $1 billion in funding through 2026 includes $200 million in grants for groups “working in the United States to protect the rights of women and advance their power and influence,” according to her essay and a release from her organization.
‘Changing of the guard’
Bill Gates will serve as the sole chairperson of his charitable organization following his ex-wife’s exit. The organization will change its name to the Gates Foundation.
“I am sorry to see Melinda leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work,” Gates said in a post on X.