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How Empowering Women Changes the World
by Melinda Gates
How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings―and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.
For the last twenty years, Melinda Gates has been on a mission 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 society up, you need to stop keeping women down.
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. As she writes in the introduction, "That is why I had to write this book―to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live."
Melinda's 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 the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world―and ourselves.
Writing with emotion, candor, and grace, she introduces us to remarkable women and shows the power of connecting with one another.
When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.
You can see the full discussion in our legacy forum here. This discussion will contain spoilers!
Some of the recent comments posted about The Moment of Lift:
"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." Where do you see yourself on this spectrum?
I have been both know and loved.my family believed in me and I have become a very self actualized person because of it. - swchis39
After finishing the book, has your understanding of what it means to empower women changed, in terms of concept and execution?
Yes, it definitely has. As others have said, empowerment has many different faces and getting to know the women she was working with seemed to help Melinda be more effective in giving them what they needed. - PinkLady
Can you think of a barrier that women face in your community that keeps women or their children from education, income, or economic opportunities?
Suburban Iowa may seem idyllic, but who knows one's neighbor? Without knowing neighbors, even women who work outside the home are limited - they don't know their children's friends and may not really know their teachers; they don't know the people ... - carolt
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?
Not my self image but a teacher who loved history so much and was so enthusiastic about it that she gave me the same love of history and I am in charge of a history book club to this day. - lesleyf
Do you agree with Gates' definition of feminism? How would you modify it to fit your own views? Do you consider yourself a feminist?
I like Gates’ definition of feminism and have identified with it (unknowingly) for decades. Like many of the participants in this discussion, I am in my 60s, however unlike some I have always identified myself as a feminist. Perhaps it was growing up... - janicea
"Part memoir, part call to action, Gates's compassionate narrative underscores her determination to leave a positive mark on this world. She inspires and emboldens in this eloquently argued work." - Publishers Weekly
"What distinguishes this book from so many other depictions of women's struggles around the globe is the author's ability to connect Meena and Selam with women in white-collar workplaces in the U.S....Affecting and inspiring." - Kirkus Reviews
"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
"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
"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 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, M.D., co-founder of 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 the New York Times #1 bestseller Educated
This information about The Moment of Lift was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world, Melinda Gates has dedicated her life to achieving transformational improvements in the health and prosperity of families, communities, and societies. Core to her work is empowering women and girls to help them realize their full potential. In 2015, Melinda created Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company that enables her to bring together other new and emerging strands of her advocacy and philanthropic work focused in the US. Melinda received a bachelor's degree from Duke and an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School. After joining Microsoft Corp. in 1987, she helped develop many of the company's multimedia products. In 1996, Melinda left Microsoft to focus on her philanthropic work and family.
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