Melinda Gates
Melinda Gates
Melinda Ann Gates, DBE is an American businesswoman and philanthropist...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth15 August 1964
CountryUnited States of America
absolutely attracted careers switch trying
There are absolutely lots of teachers who are trying to come into the profession, but they are not attracted enough to say, 'I'm going to switch careers to do it,' or they are often not retained... because the salaries and the compensation aren't there to make it happen.
children normal people respectful
People are respectful when we're out with the children on a normal evening, and it couldn't be a better place to live for those reasons.
life
I want to live as private a life as I can because of our children.
home
We talk a lot in our home together about where we're going, what I'm doing.
choice conscious daughter learning start turned
So I made a conscious choice that when our daughter turned one, I would get back into those interests, those issues, and start learning them.
africa babies false grieve love perception simply somehow women
There's a false perception that women in Africa somehow don't love their babies they way we do, don't grieve their loss the way we would. That is simply not true.
girl school boys
If you can't go to secondary school, the boys get to go and the girls don't, you're locked into a cycle of poverty, because you don't have a chance.
husband couple opportunity
As a woman finds economic opportunity, even if she's only earning a couple of dollars a day, if she can save it on her phone, she then makes different decisions for her household than her husband might.
husband school mean
In the developing world, they don't have smartphones yet. They have the older plastic phones, but women are saving money on those, because they don't have access to banks. Having that access to digital money changes everything for her because she actually doesn't have to negotiate with her husband, which she will tell you is very hard in these circumstances, especially when the means are meager. She's expected to have money to pay for the kids' health or to help with the school fees.
helping kind all-kinds
Now, as smartphones are coming up, there are all kinds of apps that will start to be developed that will help women.
violent situation trusted
In places like India with smartphones, there's an app now for women if they're in a violent situation, they can press one button. They've given their cell-phone number to five trusted friends, and right away their GPS location goes out: "Here I am."
girl mom host
Women and girls face a whole host of issues. We start with health, so we work very deeply on maternal deaths, making sure that a mom doesn't die in childbirth, making sure that she has access, for instance, to AIDS medication.
rain men breaking-down
We also look at farming. Are we making sure that we're getting the latest seeds out to women so they can get a bigger yield off of their farms? A new type of seed that gets out to a man, let's say, that's drought resistant - because, of course, the rains are changing in Africa with climate change - if you don't put it in the hands of a woman, she won't necessarily get it. We look at breaking down all those barriers.
water healthy together
Even in decision-making, we work in self-help groups. That is women coming together in small groups of 10 to sometimes 15 women, where they start to get education about their rights, about clean water and sanitation, about how to have a healthy birth. You can bring in all kinds of education to them that way.