In 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Gender Equality Division, which aims to ensure that gender equality is integrated into its works. A year later, during the Gender Equality Forum, the foundation pledged $2.1 billion over the next five years to advance gender equality across the globe. Of this, $650 million was committed toward women’s economic empowerment.
The foundation’s gender equality initiatives focus on economic empowerment, leadership, data, and innovation in science and technology for women’s health. Devex examined how the foundation spent its money on these programs from 2009 to January 2022, who received it, and what it was spent for.
Based on its grants portal, the Gates Foundation has awarded $765.42 million for 228 grants under the “empower women and girls” category since 2009. This includes both grants that are primarily for women’s empowerment and those with cross-cutting priorities. The “empower women and girls” is a focus area under the foundation’s grant categories that aims to shift the perspective toward women — from mere recipients of development programs to catalysts of change.