The Moment of Lift
How Empowering Women Changes the World
We hope that you will join in the book study. All are welcome. Even if you haven’t read the book you will want to join in the conversation.
Virtual book club meetings:
Wednesday April 28th at 2:00 pm EST - chapters 1,2,3 (start to page 89)
Wednesday May 12th at 2:00 pm EST- chapters 4, 5 (pages 89-150)
Wednesday May 26th at 2:00 pm EST- chapters 6, 7 (pages 151- 200)
Wednesday June 9th at 2:00 pm EST- chapters 8, 9 (pages 201- 273)
For the last twenty years, as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, 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 a society up, you need to stop keeping women down.
Gates traces her awakening to the link between women's empowerment and the health of societies. She introduces us to her heroes in the movement towards equality, offers startling data, shares moving conversations with women from all over the world—and shows how we can all get involved.
A personal statement of passionate conviction, this book tells of Gates' journey from a partner working behind the scenes to one of the world's foremost advocates for women, driven by the belief that no one should be excluded, all lives have equal value, and gender equity is the lever that lifts everything.
(words with the help of “Good Reads”)
Data proves facts, but stories change hearts (from “Ladders 7 Lessons from Melinda Gate’s first book”)
Throughout her work, Gates has conquered the balancing act that exists between using data and telling stories to identify issues and persuade others to help.
Even data about women comes with a bias, according to Gates. “You need a quantitative mix with qualitative so that you get a full picture of people’s lives,” Gates said.
Melinda Gates does share statistics, for example, that less than 5% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women. Data helps to identify the scale of an issue, but Gates’s call to action rests on the many stories from women she has met. “Stories are data with a soul,” Gates said.
A few words from Melinda:
Now, the world is finally waking up to the fact that none of us can move forward when half of us are held back. The data is clear: empowered women transform societies.
This is a book that argues progress is possible, but it’s as much about people as it is about ideas. It’s a chance to tell my story, but much more importantly, it’s a chance to tell the extraordinary stories of the women I have met from around the world. I wrote it as part of a promise to myself to do everything I can to ensure that their voices are amplified and their experiences are represented in the world’s most important conversations.
Additional Reading, Information Sources and Resources
There are a ton of reading resources, Podcasts, Documentaries, movies, TED talks and You Tube interviews available on this subject and related topics. Here are just a few:
- TEDX Change “Lets put Birth Control Back on the Agenda". Melinda Gates April 12, 2012
- Brene Brown’s audio Podcast on Spotify is called “Unlocking Us” on Jan 20, 2021 Melinda Gates is Brene’s guest. The interview is 1:16:18 in length
- YouTube “Book Tube- Three Barriers that hold women back, a discussion with Melinda Gates” January 2020 is 16:46 in length
- YouTube “the Moment of Lift with Melinda Gates an exclusive interview” Uploaded by VOA Africa is 6:22 in length.
- YouTube “Melinda Gates on her Foundations work” PBS News hour on May 6, 2019 is 8:00 in length
- You Tube “Melinda Gates talks with Warren Buffet” April 24, 2019 (Yahoo Finance) is 11:03 in length
- Inside Bill Gates Brain; Decoding Bill Gates – Three part docu-series on Netflix
- TED Talks given by Dr. Hans Rosling (referred to as “Dr. Tall” in Melinda’s book)
Quotes, Comments and Questions for Reflection
Why the title of the book? Melinda describes the inspiration behind the title of her book The Moment of Lift. She describes the thrill she felt as a young girl watching the Apollo spacecraft launching- “especially that moment of lift when the engines ignite, the earth shakes, and the rocket starts to rise”. Gates wrote “The Moment we broke through gravity. That’s what I want to see for women and girls around the world”.
Through her work as a philanthropist, she maintains the sense of wonder of curiosity with all the people she meets and shares their stories.
- Can you recall a time in your own life when you experienced barriers or burdens that held you down? Did you experience a similar feeling of grace or lift in the moment those burdens were removed?
Melinda describes bullying she observed in her elementary school classroom… “Either we were bullies, or we were victims, or we saw bullying and didn’t stop it.” (pgs. 50,51) She states, “Adults try to create outsiders, too. In fact, we get better at it. And most of us fall into one of the same three groups: The people who try to create outsiders, the people who are made to feel like outsiders, and the people who stand by and don’t stop it.” … “ Anyone can be made to feel like an outsider. It’s up to the people who have the power to exclude. Often it’s on the basis of race. Depending on a culture’s fears and biases, Jews... Muslims… Christians can be treated as outsiders… The poor are always outsiders…. the sick…. people with disabilities… LGBYQ…. immigrants… and in most every society, women can be made to feel like outsiders – even in their own homes”. (p. 51, 52)
- Can you think of a time when you found yourself in a situation (perhaps in school or at work) where you observed someone being treated without respect for no other purpose than to reduce their self worth (ultimately to push them out and marginalize)? At the time, did you realize what was happening? Did you feel at risk to call it out?
Melinda goes on to explain why she feels this occurs… “We tend to push out the people who have qualities we’re most afraid we will find in ourselves – and sometimes we falsely ascribe qualities we disown to certain groups, then push those groups out as a way of denying those traits in ourselves. This is what drives dominant groups to push different racial and religious groups to the margins.” (p. 52) She says why we allow this to happen… “… we invent excuses for our need to exclude. We say it’s about merit or tradition when it’s really just protecting our privilege and our pride.” (p. 52)
- Do you agree with Melinda’s assessment about why people push people out to the margins? Can you say more about her assessment?
- Melinda shares stories in her own life and the lives of the many people that she has met in her travels, as a way to inspire all of us to lift each other up and to help to remove barriers holding others down. Can you think of individuals in your own life that you have helped to lift up in a big or small way? Who has lifted you up?
In Chapter three, Melinda tells the compelling story about meeting Meena, a young mother who’s children were born at home except for the newborn which was born at a new clinic with maternal and newborn care. Melinda could tell that Meena felt good about the new clinic which provided her help and guidance on giving her baby it’s best start. She held her baby as they talked. When Melinda asked her if she wanted anymore children, she answered ‘ “The truth is no, I don’t want to have any more kids. We’re very poor. My husband works hard, but we’re just extremely poor. I don’t know how I’m going to feed this child. I have no hopes for educating him. In fact I have no hopes for this child’s future at all... The only hope I have for this child’s future, is if you’ll take him home with you.” Then she put her hand on the head of the 2-year old at her leg and said, “Please take him, too.” ’ Melinda reflected on how this conversation went from being joyous about a healthy start for the baby.. “to a dark confession about a mother’s suffering – suffering so great that the pain of giving her babies away was less than the pain of keeping them.” (p. 56)
Melinda goes on to say that “when women can time and space their births, maternal mortality drops, newborn and child mortality drops, the mother and baby are healthier, the parents have more time and energy to care for each child, and families can put resources toward the nutrition and education of each one. “There was no intervention more powerful- and no intervention that had become more neglected.” (p. 56)
Funding for family planning had dropped significantly since the early 1990’s. Melinda accepted the challenge to host for an international family planning summit in 2011 although as a Catholic, she was reluctant to put herself front and centre on the issue of birth control. “Advocates for family planning had to make it clear that we were not talking about population control. We were not talking about coercion. The summit agenda was not about abortion. It was about meeting the contraceptive needs of women and allowing them to choose for themselves whether and when to have children.” (p. 60)
“The Catholic Church’s powerful opposition to contraceptives has also affected the conversation on family planning. Outside of governments, the church is the largest provider of education and medical services in the world, and this gives it great presence and impact in the lives of the poor.” (p. 69)
After the summit, Melinda was asked ‘ “Can you take actions which are in conflict with a teaching of the Church and still be part of the Church?” Melinda answers that question in her book: “That depends, I was told, on whether you are true to your conscience, and whether your conscience is informed by the Church.” She adds, “In my case, the teachings of the Catholic Church helped form my conscience and led me into this work in the first place. Faith in action to me means going to the margins of society, seeking out those who are isolated, and bringing them back in. I was putting my faith into action when I went into the field and met the women who asked me about contraceptives. So, yes, there is a Church teaching against contraceptives – but there is another Church teaching, which is love of neighbour. When a woman who wants her children to thrive asks me for contraceptives, her plea puts these two Church teachings into conflict, and my conscience tells me to support the woman’s desire to keep her children alive. To me, that aligns with Christ’s teaching to love my neighbour.” (p. 73)
“I’m not going to let women and babies die because of a religious belief,” Gates said. “That makes no sense to me.”
- Does Gates’ conflict with her religion resonate with your own experience with religion or spirituality?
Speaking as a Canadian woman in my late 60’s (Anne J is writing this), through the years, I have noticed many changes to my rights and opportunities as well of those of my female ancestors. Here are a few on the topic of a woman’s role in employment and family… My grandmother told me that she had to quit working once she married in the mid 1920’s. A note of interest- she was not considered a “Person” in the Canadian constitution until October 1929. My own mother had to quit her job when she became pregnant and started to “show” in the early 50’s. My peers who had babies in the 70’s and 80’s had to go back to work 12 weeks after having their babies or lose their job. When I had my children in the early 90’s I was allowed a 6-month maternity leave before it necessary to go back to work. Today a new parent can take up to 18 months of parental leave (mother /father). They are eligible for EI and some employers offer salary top-ups to workers during their parental leaves.
- Reflect on the changes you’ve observed through your lifetime regarding the attitudes, social norms, laws or conventions that have affected women you have known. (could consider parental expectations, birth control access, education, employment, unpaid work, etc.)
Melinda reflects on the first time she was asked if she was a feminist… “I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t think of myself as a feminist. I’m not sure I knew then what a feminist was.”… “Twenty-two years later, I am an ardent feminist. To me, it’s very simple. Being a feminist means believing that every woman should be able to use her voice and pursue her potential, and that women and men should all work together to take down the barriers and end the biases that still hold women back.”
- How has your own attitude toward the word “feminism or feminist” changed over time?
