{"id":13486,"date":"2020-05-27T12:32:54","date_gmt":"2020-05-27T16:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatwillittake.com\/?p=13486"},"modified":"2020-06-02T10:44:21","modified_gmt":"2020-06-02T14:44:21","slug":"interview-with-melinda-gates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatwillittake.com\/covid-gendered\/interview-with-melinda-gates\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Melinda Gates"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Revolutionizing Our Caregiving System Is \u2018the Key to Reopening the Economy\u2019<\/h3>\n

By Marianne Schnall<\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation<\/a> has always risen up to confront some of our world\u2019s most complex and serious problems, so it comes as no surprise that they are at the forefront of addressing the global pandemic, having committed more than $300 million<\/a> to the COVID-19 response since January 2020. They are currently working with partners to accelerate global action against COVID-19, strengthen low- and middle-income countries\u2019 social safety nets and their capacity to respond to the virus, and help ensure the rapid development and widespread availability of essential commodities, including Personal Protective Equipment, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.<\/p>\n

In addition to all of these vital efforts, Melinda Gates\u2014who is the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and founder of Pivotal Ventures<\/a>, and who had been already doing far-reaching and groundbreaking work at the foundation in supporting gender equity<\/a> and women worldwide\u2014began thinking about the specific impacts the pandemic was having on women, particularly on the domestic caregiving front.\u00a0Like the many other cracks in our systems the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated, it has become starkly clear that the caregiving system is broken and disproportionately burdening women, given the fact that\u00a0women are the country\u2019s primary care and service providers, and because they make up a majority share of workers in hard-hit job sectors: 86% of all nurses, 75% of primary caregivers, and 62% of minimum and low-wage workers are women.<\/p>\n

And even though most women now work full time outside the home, they still spend two times more hours on caregiving, are ten times more likely to stay home with sick children, and are three times more likely than men to quit their jobs to take care of a family member. Since the pandemic began and schools closed, 43% of employed mothers have said they are primarily responsible for providing childcare, while only 7% of employed fathers say the same.<\/p>\n

In a recent op-ed for the Washington Post<\/em><\/a>, Melinda argues that in order to reopen the country and rebuild the economy, we will need much more than testing and contact tracing. To keep sick Americans home and get healthy Americans back to work, we will need a radical new approach to caregiving. In her op-ed, Melinda lays out solutions that policymakers, business leaders, and investors can act on so America\u2019s broken caregiving system doesn\u2019t hinder our recovery and leave vulnerable communities behind.<\/p>\n

I had the opportunity to speak to Melinda about the critical issues she raised in her op-ed, including why the impact on women and the aspect of caregiving became an area of focus and concern for her, why she thinks fixing our broken caregiving system is vital to our reopening and recovery, what she sees as the policies, innovations and solutions we can implement to create a more functional and equitable system, and how addressing this issue of caregiving is connected to her overarching goal of achieving gender equality in the U.S. and around the world, a cause which benefits us all.<\/p>\n

Her heartfelt passion to these issues was evident, as well as her conviction that this pandemic was making many unseen and unaddressed societal problems \u201cvisible,\u201d affording us a unique opportunity to address those issues and \u201cbuild the world we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the interview below or listen to the podcast.<\/p>\n