The Moment of Lift

A debut from Forbes¡¯ third most powerful woman in the world, Melinda Gates, a timely and necessary call to action for women¡¯s empowerment. For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission. Her goal, as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been to find solutions for people with the most urgent needs, wherever they live. Throughout this journey, one thing has become increasingly clear to her: If you want to lift a society up, invest in women. In this candid and inspiring book, Gates traces her awakening to the link between women¡¯s empowerment and the health of societies. She shows some of the tremendous opportunities that exist right now to ¡°turbo-charge¡± change. And she provides simple and effective ways each one of us can make a difference. Convinced that all women should be free to decide whether and when to have children, Gates took her first step onto the global stage to make a stand for family planning. That step launched her into further efforts: to ensure women everywhere have access to every kind of job; to encourage men around the globe to share equally in the burdens of household work; to advocate for paid family leave for everyone; to eliminate gender bias in all its forms. Throughout, Gates introduces us to her heroes in the movement towards equality, offers startling data, shares moving conversations she¡¯s had with women from all over the world¡ªand shows how we can all get involved. A personal statement of passionate conviction, this book tells of Gates¡¯ journey from a partner working behind the scenes to one of the world¡¯s foremost advocates for women, driven by the belief that no one should be excluded, all lives have equal value, and gender equity is the lever that lifts everything.