Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

'We need this message more than ever' - Malala Yousafzai

Hard-hitting and uplifting true stories of the women around the world facing extreme gender inequality who, when the wider community supports them to challenge the status quo, improve life for the whole of society. A Sunday Times bestselling debut from Melinda Gates, The Moment of Lift is a timely and necessary call to action for women's empowerment.

The right to: Spend your own money. Go to school. Earn an income. Access contraceptives. Work outside the home. Walk outside the home. Choose whom to marry. Get a loan. Start a business. Own property. Divorce a husband. See a doctor. Drive a car. All of these rights are denied to women in some parts of the world.

'How can we summon a moment of lift for human beings - and especially for women? Because when you lift up women, you lift up humanity.'

In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares the stories of the inspiring people she's met during her work and travels around the world and the lessons she's learned from them. As she writes in the introduction, "That is why I had to write this book - to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live."

Melinda's unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention - from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world - and ourselves.

When we lift others up, they lift us up, too.

Review: Melinda Gates has spent many years working with women around the world. This book charts her own evolution as a feminist and celebrates the stories of others who inspired her on her journey. It is an urgent manifesto for an equal society where women are valued and recognized in all spheres of life. Most of all, it is a call for unity, inclusion and connection. We need this message more than ever. -- Malala Yousafzai
Melinda Gates's book is a lesson in listening. A powerful, poignant, and ultimately humble call to arms. -- Tara Westover, author of Educated
The Moment of Lift is an urgent call to courage. It changed how I think about myself, my family, my work, and what's possible in the world. Melinda weaves together vulnerable, brave storytelling and compelling data to make this one of those rare books that you carry in your heart and mind long after the last page. -- Brene Brown, Ph.D., author of New York Times #1 bestseller Dare to Lead
This book is a beautiful and concise mission statement on what we need to do to move society forward- continue to empower women. At every level and in all places women are truly the bedrock supporting their communities. -- Trevor Noah
For the past two decades, Melinda Gates has been a force, and an increasingly forceful voice, in global health. Yet The Moment of Lift is a book about gender equity and its golden thread is empathy. This book lifts up the voices of women and girls whose experiences have been entirely unlike Melinda's own. They've taught her a great deal, and in this beautifully crafted and artful memoir, Melinda Gates invites the reader to learn from them too. -- Paul Farmer, MD, Kolokotrones University Professor, Harvard Medical School Co-Founder, Partners In Health
The Moment of Lift reveals painful truths about women living in the most vulnerable areas of the world. Melinda Gates uplifts and inspires by weaving a narrative of fortitude and hope. She pushes us to challenge the status quo and never settle. -- Mellody Hobson
An inspirational look at the need to empower women to make change in the world. -- Washington Post
I think this is one of the best books I've ever read. -- Warren Buffett
A moral appeal, imploring each of us who reads it to look around - at our own families, our own workplaces, our own place in a gigantic, but highly connected, world - and get to work making it more equal. -- Chicago Tribune