Author: Maria Chzhen
Date: 25 April 2020
Hey guys! Today, I am going to talk about a book called The Moment Of Lift, written by Melinda Gates. She is Bill Gates' wife, and you may know her for her philanthropic work at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. This book came out a year ago (at the moment of writing), on April 23 2019, but it has already become a massive hit around the world.
Until I read the book, I had a very vague idea of what it was about. I kind of thought it would be somewhat like Michelle Obama's "Becoming", because both of these women are very inspiring and influential, but it was a bit different. The Moment of Lift goes into lots of detail about issues that the Gates Foundation has worked on and not as much into Melinda's own biography. The Gates Foundation works in lots of fields, such as vaccinations' development, women empowerment, promotion of family planning, and etc.
The book has opened my eyes on many ideas. Melinda made it easy to understand the mentalities that keep many countries from becoming more prosperous, and allowed me to connect the dots which I couldn't connect before. She told about her Foundation's work, and how it became clear with time that it is hard to focus on one issue without having encountered a bigger, more serious and more deeply-rooted problem. For example, when their foundation was just starting off, they pushed the idea of making contraceptives and family planning available for all. But then, they have discovered another problem that was seemingly the root of this one - girls not being in school and not getting the education they have a right to. But why were girls not in school? They were getting married off as children. Why were they getting married off as children? So that their parents could earn money from the groom's family. And the younger the girl is, the more money her parents would get. I am talking about girls being as young as 8 years old! So, as you can see, this is a vicious cycle. It's not easy to break it, and it requires lots of persuasion and a change of mindset.
Melinda travels to countries that experience issues with treating women equally, and her and Bill's Foundation helps solve these sometimes very hurtful problems. The process has to be delicate. As Melinda says it in the book, you can't come and judge everyone. You have to be able to talk to people with respect.
The idea of a woman being inferior to a man is rooted deep in the culture, and not many people question it if it's been done for many years. If you say: "Oh my god, what are you doing? This is harmful!", it might save a life of 1-3 women, but you won't be able to inflict lasting change.
To all people who might have a little confusion with understanding what feminism is all about: I am not saying that women have to be above men. This wouldn't make our society much better, the issues would just reverse. We just need to listen to everyone's voices because all human lives are equally important. We need to be besides men in the social hierarchy, and help empower everyone. Empowering is the moment of lift. It is that wonderful feeling of being believed in, being cheered on and being invested in. Please read this book. Whether you are a man, a woman, or anyone else, read the book, because it is wonderful. It shines with warm light in my brain whenever I think of it!
Andrew Burmakin
Megan Jorgensen
Maria Konnikova
John Fowles
Paul Scharre
Cat Patrick