Date: 2024-09-27 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00025482
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MOMENT OF LIFT ... MELINDA FRENCH GATES
Book and other initiatives related to Empowerment of Women and Girls
MOMENT OF LIFT ... MELINDA FRENCH GATES
Book and other initiatives related to Empowerment of Women and Girls
Original article:
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
Portrait of Melinda French Gates
Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls.
As the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda sets the direction and priorities of one of the world’s largest philanthropies. In 2015, Melinda founded Pivotal Ventures, a company working to accelerate the pace of social progress in the United States. Melinda is also the author of the bestselling book The Moment of Lift.
Melinda grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science and economics and an MBA, both from Duke University. Melinda spent the first decade of her career developing multimedia products at Microsoft before leaving the company to focus on her family and philanthropic work. She has three children—Jenn, Rory, and Phoebe—and lives in Seattle, Washington. Moment of Lift Books ... Books for a more equal world
Melinda French Gates visits Girls Garage, a design and construction school for girls and gender expansive youth, in Berkeley, CA. Photo by Bryan Meltz
A Note from Melinda
As a lifelong reader, I’m a deep believer in the power of books and their ability to call us to be our best selves—smarter, kinder, more informed, more empathetic.
In 2019, I published my first book, The Moment of Lift, to share the stories of women I’ve met through my work. With the help of readers like you, The Moment of Lift became a New York Times bestseller, and those stories reached more people than I would have ever thought possible.
The experience of sharing The Moment of Lift with the world made two things very clear to me: First, there are many more stories that deserve to be told. Second, there are others who deserve the chance to tell them.
Those convictions led me to partner with Flatiron to create Moment of Lift Books, an imprint dedicated to publishing original nonfiction by visionaries working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls. I’m excited to have this chance to amplify important voices and keep gender equality at the center of the conversation.
The Moment of Lift by Melinda French Gates
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World by Melinda French Gates
About the book
After years of travel, humanitarian work, and extensive research, Melinda introduces us to the women she's met along the way. Their stories are brutally honest, gut-wrenching, inspiring and triumphant. They show us how, time and time again, empowered women rise up and bring their families and communities with them.
Melinda also shares her own personal journey to finding her voice and becoming an advocate for women and girls, explaining how the women she has met have called her to action. And at this critical moment, she calls us to action too—urging us to drive progress in our homes, workplaces, and communities.
The Moment of Lift will fill your heart with hope and ignite your sense of urgency.
A Story from The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates | How Anna Summoned a Moment of Lift
How Anna Summoned a Moment of Lift
In her first book, The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, Melinda French Gates makes a bold claim: when we lift up women, we lift up humanity.
For all of history, women and girls have been relegated to the margins, denied an equal chance to learn, lead, earn, thrive and rise.
In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. Her unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention—from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and finding her voice.
Throughout, she shows how there has never been a greater opportunity to change the world—and ourselves. Today, we have the knowledge, energy, and moral insight to interrupt and reverse the patterns of history. Now is the time for us to work together to accelerate progress in our homes, in our workplaces, and in our communities. Equality can’t wait.
We hope the following questions will enhance your reading group’s experience of this profound book and help you discover ways you can accelerate progress in your own home, workplace, and community.
Questions and Topics for Discussion
1. In the Introduction, Melinda shares stories from her life—watching Apollo launches as a child, and, as a mom, taking off on airplanes with her family— that in part inspired the title of the book. How has she maintained the sense of wonder and curiosity she felt as a child in her work as a philanthropist? Can you recall any moments in your own life that elicited a similar feeling of grace and being “lifted like a scarf on the wind,” as Mark Nepo describes (2)?
2. Melinda explains that she has shared these women’s (and men’s) stories as a way to inspire us to lift each other up. In your experience, how does lift happen? Are there individuals in your life whom you feel you’ve helped to lift, in a big or small way? Who has helped lift you?
3. Each chapter of the book focuses on a central issue of gender equality, and yet taken as a whole they form a matrix of issues that support that idea that “there are no isolated problems” (16). Did you feel strongly that one issue or another was a “root” cause from which the others proliferated, or that you identified with one or two more than others? Which issue in the book is most relevant to your own life?
4. What are some of the taboos around women’s education cited in the book (e.g., Vicki Phillips in rural Kentucky) and from your own experience?
5. Melinda writes that “the most transforming force of education for women and girls is challenging the self-image of the girl who goes to school.” Did you have a teacher who helped change your self-image? How did he or she do it? What effect did it have on you?
6. Consider the examples of women acting on instinct in spite of hierarchical or bureaucratic obstacles—such as Mama Rosa, who was able to instruct Hans to stop the vaccine car after a mother and baby died in childbirth; and Ruchi, who saved a baby by bringing him to her own skin. Can you recall a time where you acted in a similar way, or witnessed another woman “breaking the rules,” as it were? What helped overcome the fear of power, and how did the reactions to that event change the way people understood a woman’s power?
7. Melinda cites shocking statistics about the time women spend doing unpaid work—an average of seven years more than men in a lifetime, or the equivalent of the time it would take to earn a bachelor’s and master’s degree education (118). Discuss your perspective on unpaid work done by women from your own life. Have you ever tried to reduce your unpaid work or redistribute it? What has worked for you?
8. Did you grow up with certain expectations of what was “women’s” work, and how it was valued compared to work done at an outside job? How does your current workplace and/or home value the tasks of taking care of a home and family, and where might you use your voice to make the two more compatible as Melinda describes?
9. Melinda writes: “As soon as we began to spend more time understanding how people live their lives, we saw that so many of the barriers to advancement. . . can be traced to the limits put on the lives of women.” (50) Can you think of a barrier that women face in your community that keeps women or their children from education, income or economic opportunities?
10. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was first interested in transforming agriculture through science alone—developing seeds that would help farmers grow more food—but ultimately discovered that gender bias would keep better seeds from reaching or benefiting the people who plant them. The resistance of some team members to shift views leads Melinda to question in the book, “How do you follow your plan and yet keep listening to new ideas? How can you hold your strategy lightly, so you’ll be able to hear the new idea that blows it up?” (185). Have you ever had to convince people in your work or family life to see things from a different perspective?
11. In describing her own journey with her Catholic faith, Melinda explains the importance of acting according to one’s conscience—that “Faith in action to me means going from the margins of society, seeking out those who are isolated, and bringing them back in” (73). Does this resonate with your experience with religion or spirituality?
12. Melinda asks, “What gives me the right, as an outsider, to support efforts to change the culture of communities I’m not part of?”—a question that many Westerners have when looking for ways to help developing countries (172). How do the personal narratives in The Moment of Lift break down the barriers that encourage exclusion, which Melinda cites as a major cause of inequality and suffering? What threads did you trace among the stories that illustrate the importance of having a common purpose—such as all people wanting their babies to be healthy and safe, and the collective desire for love?
13. Melinda’s friend Killian Noe, founder of the Recovery Café, explains this principle behind her work: “To be known without being loved is terrifying. To be loved without being known has no power to change us. But to be known and deeply loved transforms us” (149). Where do you see yourself on this spectrum of being deeply known and/or loved? Have you had experiences of being one or the other, neither or both, and what impact did that have on your ability to be “excited about living”?
14. We often hear about striving for a “work-life balance”—creating equal time for private life and professional life, but separating them to avoid burnout. In reading about the challenges of women in the book to achieve this in maledominated environments, how did your view of work-life balance change, if at all? How might we reframe the conversation to not see them as discrete areas of life, but part of accepting each other as whole, multi-faceted beings? Consider how Melinda interacted with her colleague whose brother was ill, and her development of an unofficial paid family leave policy.
15. “A low self-image and oppressive social customs are inner and outer versions of the same force,” writes Melinda, as a way to illustrate why personal and cultural change are equally important in fighting inequality (112). Has reading this book given you new insights on how to improve your own and others’ selfimage, and the culture around you? Which seems more difficult to achieve in your opinion?
16. After finishing the book, has your understanding of what it means to empower women changed, in terms of concept and execution? What are some of the ways Melinda suggested we can all—women and men—move out of this state of fear and into one of love and acceptance?
17. Why do you believe equality can’t wait in your own life? Is there anything you plan to do differently to help accelerate progress towards gender equality in your own home, workplace and community? Share your perspectives on social media with #MomentofLift.
About Moment of Lift Books
Moment of Lift Books publishes original nonfiction by visionaries who are working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls. Created by Melinda French Gates in partnership with Flatiron Books, the imprint draws its name from Melinda’s first book, The Moment of Lift, published with Flatiron in 2019. Brené Brown speaks with Melinda French Gates about her book, The Moment of Lift.
Photo by Christopher Farber. Brené Brown speaks with Melinda French Gates about her book, The Moment of Lift, in April 2019.
Praise
In her book, Melinda tells the stories of the inspiring people she’s met through her work all over the world, digs into the data, and powerfully illustrates issues that need our attention—from child marriage to gender inequity in the workplace.
President Barack Obama
'The Moment of Lift reveals painful truths about women living in the most vulnerable areas of the world. Melinda Gates uplifts and inspires by weaving a narrative of fortitude and hope. She pushes us to challenge the status quo and never settle.'
Mellody Hobson
'The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what’s possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page.'
Brené Brown, Ph.D., author of the New York Times #1 bestseller Dare to Lead
'The Moment of Lift is a book about gender equity, and its golden thread is empathy. This book lifts up the voices of women and girls whose experiences have been entirely unlike Melinda’s own. They’ve taught her a great deal, and in this beautifully crafted and artful memoir, Melinda Gates invites the reader to learn from them too.'
Paul Farmer, MD, Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard Medical School Co-Founder, Partners in Health
'Melinda Gates's book is a lesson in listening. A powerful, poignant, and ultimately humble call to arms.'
Tara Westover, author of Educated
'I think it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. It’s about women around the world, it’s about herself. It’s very candidly told. And the stories are terrific.'
Warren Buffett
'Melinda Gates has spent many years working with women around the world. This book is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. Most of all, it is a call for unity, inclusion, and connection. We need this message more than ever.'
Malala Yousafzai
'This book is a beautiful and concise mission statement on what we need to do to move society forward—continue to empower women. At every level and in all places women are truly the bedrock supporting their communities.'
Trevor Noah
'No one has waged war on global poverty with the scale, resources or intensity of the Gates. But for most, global inequality can feel like an unchangeable and impersonal reality. This book rehumanizes it and gives whoever reads it a sense of agency. Melinda’s message is inspiring in its simplicity and undressed my own sense of helplessness in tackling the inequalities faced across the world. As a philanthropist historically focused on vaccines, Melinda comes forward to say that investing in women will help tackle poverty and inequality generally and improve outcomes for everyone notably more than any other solution. As women’s groups around the world remain under-funded and while gender equality is yet to become a lived reality in any society, Melinda's book is needed and timely.'
Emma Watson
About Moment of Lift Books
Moment of Lift Books, created by Melinda French Gates in partnership with Flatiron Books, publishes original nonfiction by visionaries who are working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls.