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Brian Ach\/Getty Images for The Lasker Foundation<\/p>\n
Melinda French Gates sparked an online frenzy with an essay calling for a \u201cmenopause revolution\u201d and committing to donate a large sum to women\u2019s health causes.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, Melinda, who was married to billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates until 2021, published an essay in The New York Times titled \u201cWomen, We Deserve Better Than This.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s a scene that regularly plays out across the country: A woman walks into her doctor\u2019s office with an increasingly debilitating set of symptoms\u2014her sleep destroyed, joints aching, heart racing, memory slipping\u2014and walks out with no diagnosis, no treatment and no plan,\u201d Melinda, 61, wrote in her essay.<\/p>\n Melinda Gates wrote an essay calling for a “menopause revolution.”<\/p>\n The philanthropist raised concerns over how menopause is handled in healthcare.<\/p>\n She shared that when she first entered menopause, she had to advocate for herself to get help with managing her symptoms\u2014even with \u201caccess to excellent healthcare.\u201d<\/p>\n Get a First Look<\/p>\n Sign up to receive news and updates from The Looker<\/p>\n \u201cOur society\u2019s approach to menopause and perimenopause reflects the deep flaws of a health system that has long treated women as an afterthought,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Melinda noted that \u201cwomen\u2019s rights are under attack,\u201d and detailed how the likelihood of a woman receiving inadequate care during menopause is \u201calarmingly high.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to change our assumptions about whose bodies are worth understanding,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe need a menopause revolution in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n Melinda French Gates has advocated for women’s rights for over two decades. Pictured here during the Discussion on Ending Child Marriage and Empowering Adolescent Girls event in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2023.<\/p>\n To address these issues, she committed an additional $215 million through her Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Founded by Melinda, the group of organizations advocates for women through philanthropy and investments. In January, The New York Times revealed<\/a> that her ex-husband donated an estimated $7.88 billion to the organization in 2024.<\/p>\n Even after their separation, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates each hold staggering wealth: As of June 2026, Bill is the 19th-richest person in the world, with a net worth of $103 billion<\/a>, while Melinda\u2019s is estimated at $19.1 billion<\/a>, making her the 135th-richest person globally.<\/p>\n The new funding will be spent at least in part on women\u2019s menopause care.<\/p>\n The essay prompted over 1,800 responses from readers of The New York Times, and many online conversations quickly followed.<\/p>\n The top comment under the article\u2014with over 2,000 likes\u2014reads, \u201cBrava! I\u2019m so tired of being told in a dismissive way by doctors, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s menopause,\u2019 whenever I try to engage with them on the symptoms mentioned in this article. No solutions. Not even any empathy. I hope the research Melinda sponsors turns up something useful.\u201d<\/p>\n On Reddit<\/a>, too, people expressed their support for Melinda, writing, \u201cAmen to this!\u201d and \u201cOmg this is SO NEEDED!\u201d<\/p>\n Bill and Melinda Gates were married from 1994 to 2021. Pictured here on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d in 2018.<\/p>\n Lou Rocco\/Lou Rocco\/Getty Images<\/p>\n With this investment, the total Melinda has spent supporting women\u2019s health over the past few years exceeds $600 million.<\/p>\n Melinda and Bill divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage. The ex-couple, who share three children, co-chaired their joint foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation\u2014now known as the Gates Foundation\u2014until 2024.<\/p>\n![\"attends](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/UE5S53IOJ5CKHPNNHMT23RGTGM.JPG\")
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