The Moment of Lift

What an inspiring book, it makes me want to throw money at the Gates Foundation and all the other organizations that Melinda mentions in the book. Alongside anecdotes about her own background, career and the Gates family life (Bill drove his daughter to school, which gave lots of other mothers leverage to pressure their men to do the same) the book looks at the many ways girls and women around the world are still exploited and abused. From family planning, to health access, lack of education, genital mutilation, child brides and the cost of unpaid labor, Gates tells of her travels and explains the lessons that learned while working at her foundation. A main lesson is that when you try to fix injustices and inequalities, it's important to always find the root cause, instead of focusing on the symptoms. And a root cause (e.g. ingrained traditions) can't be fixed with money, it takes empathy and time, to truly change the minds of people. The book is full of inspiring stories of female empowerment heroes and initiatives. All showing, how when we empower and lift up women, everyone profits.

Some of the origanization mentioned:
BRAC - http://www.brac.net/
CARE - http://www.care.org/our-work
Girls Not Brides - http://www.girlsnotbrides.org/
Kakenya's Dream - http://www.kakenyasdream.org/
Malala Fund - http://www.malala.org/
PRADAN - http://www.pradan.net/
Saksham - http://www.community.org.in/story
Tostan - http://www.tostan.org/