The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates

 Melinda Gates has been the driving force behind the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's charitable projects.  In this book Gates tells about her journey as she entered into humanitarian aid and what experiences guided her direction.  She has mainly focused on projects that will help women in underprivileged communities. In the book she has chapters about some of the main challenges women face, including having access to birth control, having access to education, having options to work outside the home, having control over who and when to marry. She also discusses issues women face in developed countries, like the lack of women in leadership and tech jobs, creating partnership in marriage, and dealing with religious beliefs that support male dominance.

I chose this book because I felt like, in a time of year so often focused on materialism, it is good to be reminded that not everyone enjoys the advantages we do in the United States.  The stories Ms Gates recounts are heartrending, and it is hard to internalized that there are so many places still left in the world where women lack basic rights.  I also appreciated her discussion about how she, as a devout Catholic, has dealt with reconciling the Catholic Church's prohibition of contraceptives with the reality of their importance in lifting women from poverty and oppression.  I must admit, I was having similar feelings of conflict when I read the chapter about male dominant religions and how they perpetuate the idea the women are somehow "less" than men.  The audiobook is read by Ms Gates, and was written in 2019.  It is a little sad to hear the enthusiasm in her voice as she discusses how she and Bill managed to establish a relationship of true partnership, knowing that just two years later they divorced because of Bill's involvement with the Jeffery Epstein sex scandal. Still, the book is worthwhile  and a reminder of all that still needs to be done to create a completely equitable society. (2019, 288p)