Melinda French Gates gets political

Melinda French Gates gets political

What you probably already know: Melinda French Gates stepped into the spotlight over the weekend with an exclusive interview with the New York Times Magazine, where the billionaire philanthropist opened up about what’s next for her after stepping back from the Gates Foundation. French Gates, who is about to turn 60, said that after the Dobbs decision that rolled back access to abortions and other reproductive health care in the U.S., that she needed to speak up and get more political.

Why? French Gates called out the “downstream repercussions” from the Dobbs decision, including worse outcomes for Black women and deserts where women can’t access to maternal care. “I thought…if I really believe in women in our country and women’s rights, I need to speak up.” French Gates has endorsed Kamala Harris for president and called Elon Musk’s attack on her for doing so “kind of silly.” She said that she was highly influenced by her daughter Phoebe, who has toured women’s health clinics in the South of the U.S. and saw the maternal mortality crisis up close.

What it means: French Gates said she would focus her giving on providing access to care and influencing policy. While at the Gates Foundation, she had to negotiate with Bill Gates as they decided their focus areas. Since she has pulled away, she says, she believes “women should have their full decision-making authority, their full authority over their resources, and they ought to make good policy.”

What happens now? French Gates learned from her mother that she had to set her own agenda, she said, and this new political focus is part of that. While she considers herself a centrist, politically, and said she has voted both Republican and Democrat in the past, the Dobbs issue has pushed her hard to focus on women’s access to reproductive care. As a result, she has said she will support more women, particularly women of color, running for political office at the state level. “I’m just ready to set my own agenda as my own person,” she said.

Check out the Formidable Podcast — informational interviews with women leaders on news-driven topics, spotlighting timely and thought-provoking issues facing our world.

In our latest episode, we talk with Alaska Airlines Base Chief Pilot Julie Ann Thiele about the obstacles that almost got in the way of her career — including a serious case of motion sickness. She also faced sexism in the industry. Now, she wants to see more women and people of color pursue pilot careers. We also discussed how she feels about Boeing in light of the safety issues, and how she handles turbulence in the skies.

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.