Meet Melinda French Gates, one of the world's most influential and richest women

• Melinda French Gates ranks 10th on Forbes' The World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.
• French Gates, worth $13.4 billion, co-founded the Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Foundation.
• She endorsed Kamala Harris for 2024, emphasizing the need for abortion rights advocacy.

Melinda French Gates is a renowned philanthropist, which has helped earn her the spot as the 10th most powerful woman in the world, according to Forbes' The World's 100 Most Powerful Women list.

French Gates is worth $13.4 billion, according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index, which ranks her 157th among the world's richest billionaires, as of Friday, August 2.

Since founding the Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates Foundation in 2000 with her former husband, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, the pair have donated $59.5 billion to the charitable foundation.

In May, French Gates announced she was stepping down from her role as cochair of the foundation. In her announcement, she said she remains committed to "people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States."

French Gates endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election race and highlighted the importance of a leader who will advocate for abortion rights.

She previously backed President Joe Biden before he left the race, a decision that Tesla CEO Elon Musk criticized in January.

Here's a look at French Gates' life and career so far.

French Gates graduated from Duke University with a bachelor's degree in computer science and economics

French Gates also received an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business. The philanthropist has gifted The French Family Science Center, the University Scholars Program, and the DukeEngage Program to her alma mater. She also served as a Duke trustee for several years.

Shortly after she graduated, she joined Microsoft and served as a project manager of software products Microsoft Bob, Microsoft Encarta, and Expedia.

Melinda French Gates married Bill Gates in 1994

Bill Gates asked her on a date while at a company picnic. She initially turned him down because he wasn't spontaneous enough, but an hour later, he asked to take her out that night, and she agreed.

After seven years of dating, they married in a secret ceremony on a Hawaiian golf course . They divorced in 2021 after 27 years of marriage.

She left Microsoft in 1996 to start a family

French Gates became the general manager of information products, before she left the role to start a family.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates share three children

French Gates gave birth to their three children, Jennifer, Rory, and Phoebe, in 1996, 1999, and 2002.

The eldest of the three, Jennifer Katharine Gates , graduated from Stanford University in 2018 with a degree in human biology.

She's an accomplished equestrian and graduated from Mount Sinai's Icahn School of Medicine in 2024.

Rory John Gates graduated from the University of Chicago in 2022

Rory Gates graduated with a double major and a Master's in Creative Writing.

French Gates wrote an essay about him in 2017 titled "How I Raised a Feminist Son." In it, she describes him as a "great son and a great brother" who "inherited his parents' obsessive love of puzzles."

Phoebe Gates is a Stanford graduate and activist

Phoebe Gates is Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates' youngest child, who graduated from Stanford University in 2024.

French Gates has long been an advocate for women's rights

French Gates has been vocal about expanding the availability of contraception and advocated for female founders. She previously pledged $1 billion through her nonprofit Pivotal Ventures to help gender equality causes.

$200 million of the $1 billion was committed toward organizations protecting women's rights, such as the Center for Reproductive Rights and MomsRising Education Fund.

She has also brought awareness to "time poverty" — the idea that daily unpaid work like household chores "rob women of their potential."

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by then-President Obama in 2016

French Gates was given the highest civilian award in the US, for her work in health and poverty in America and abroad.

Her debut book titled "The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World" came out in 2019

In the book, French Gates shares stories of people she's met through her philanthropy and what they have taught her about women's rights and issues.

In the book, she wrote, "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."

In May, French Gates committed an additional $1 billion through 2026 to "advance women’s power globally"

French Gates said in the announcement, "For too long, a lack of money has forced  organizations  fighting for women's rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. I want to help even the match."

In July, French Gates announced her support for Kamala Harris in an X post, saying, "She has an inspiring vision for America." Her endorsement of Biden and then Harris marks the first time she has made a political endorsement.

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