Empowering Women Around the World

It's so important for women to encourage their daughters to become more engaged in the problems of people in need. Bill and I both feel very strongly that a key role for our foundation is to push for advances that will enable women to help themselves, their families, and their communities. Much of the work we do is about empowering women. We know that improving women's health - by ensuring access to reproductive health services and developing tools to address the unique needs of women, is crucial for improving family health and the health of communities. In our HIV/AIDS work, as an example, we're funding work to develop an effective microbicide - which is a clear, odorless gel a woman will be able to use to help protect herself from the transmission of HIV. Our global development work, which is focused on agriculture and financial services, has at is heart the goal of empowering the world's poorest people - most of them women with young children.

Our daughters will play a crucial role in creating a world where everyone has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. We should be encouraging and nurturing them to do that work well.

Photo courtesy of Newsweek

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