Gates Foundation commits $2.1b to advance gender equality
Co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, in Paris on July 1, 2021, where she spoke at the Generation Equality Forum. She said gender equality must be at the centre of the world’s efforts to make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.
What you need to know:
- The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $2.1 billion towards advancing gender equality over the next five years.
- Financing has been a major bottleneck in implementing the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action agreed upon during the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, China.
- A total of $1.4 billion will be invested in family planning and women’s health.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $2.1 billion towards advancing gender equality over the next five years, a financial boost fronted amidst a global push for renewed actions to accelerate women and girls’ empowerment.
The foundation announced the commitment on June 30, at the start of the Generation Equality Forum (GEF) in Paris, France, convened by UN Women and co-hosted by governments of Mexico and France.
The forum bringing together governments, feminists and women rights organisations, philanthropic foundations, private sector, and civil society partners is to conclude with concrete financial commitments and action plans on accelerating gender equality and women’s rights.
Financing has been a major bottleneck in implementing the Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action agreed upon during the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995 in Beijing, China. The conference was attended by 47,000 participants and activists from 189 countries.
Covid-19 has further reversed the progress made and slowed down the momentum with International Labour Organisation indicating unemployment for women rose by 13 million in 2020 compared to 2019, and is projected to increase by another two million in 2021.
Men’s unemployment, on the other hand, has mostly recovered to pre-pandemic levels, thereby exacerbating existing inequalities in the workforce.
“The world has been fighting for gender equality for decades, but progress has been slow. Now is the chance to reignite a movement and deliver real change,” said Gates Foundation, co-chair, Melinda French Gates.
Seize moment
“The beauty of our fight for gender equality is that every human being will gain from it. We must seize this moment to build a better, more equal future.”
Of the $2.1 billion, a total of $650 million will be spent on economic empowerment over the next five years supporting women’s empowerment collectives, strengthen the care economy, improve women’s financial inclusion, and reduce barriers to paid work.
A further $1.4 billion will be invested in family planning and women’s health, with a focus on increasing options and access to contraceptives and support for a network of family planning partners.
On accelerating women in leadership, the foundation will inject $100 million to accelerate women’s inclusion in leadership roles, primarily in health, law, and economics. It includes a contribution to a new fund by Co-Impact that aims to dismantle systemic barriers to gender equality and women and girls’ leadership around the world.
“Gender equality must be at the centre of the world’s efforts to make progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Gates Foundation, co-chair, Bill Gates,
“Prioritising gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to fighting poverty and preventable disease. The Generation Equality Forum is an opportunity to hold leaders accountable so that we can ensure that all people, everywhere, have the opportunity to live healthy, productive lives.”
Women's health
New data from the foundation show the pandemic-driven inequality is growing at an alarming pace. Disruptions to women’s health services, job losses in sectors where women are over-represented, and a sharp increase in care giving needs and other unpaid work, are all fuelling the inequality.
The data shows 53 per cent of women work in industries most disrupted by Covid-19 compared to 44 per cent of men.
Additionally, before the pandemic, one in four (24 per cent) women spent more than nine hours on childcare daily. The proportion has since increased to one in three (36 per cent) women.
At the same time, lockdowns have reduced access to contraceptives leaving 12 million women without protection, resulting to 1.4 million unintended pregnancies.
The new data reaffirms Eurasia Group’s suggestions that freeing women from childcare would however be beneficial to the global economy. That $3 trillion would be added to the economy annually. Again, at least 100 million women would be lifted out of extreme poverty through cash transfer programs.
“Women and girls already faced unique barriers to their full participation in social and economic life, and the latest data show that the pandemic has only sharpened gender disparities,” said Gates Foundation, Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Suzman.
“Each data point represents a woman fighting for a better future, and this funding reflects our long-standing commitment to support all women in their fight for a fairer and more equal world.”
