The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment was made on the first day of the UN Women’s Equality Forum in Paris.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged to provide US$2.1 billion in the next five years to help promote global gender equality, and announced this commitment at the United Nations Women’s Generation Equality Forum in Paris.

At the opening ceremony of the forum on Wednesday, it announced a new investment of US$40 billion benefiting women and girls, including a US$2.1 billion pledge from the Gates Foundation, US$420 million from the Ford Foundation, and the World Bank’s commitment to gender equality in 12 African countries. Project investment, forum organizer Said in the press release.

In a statement On Wednesday, the Gates Foundation stated that its commitments are aimed at “promoting women’s economic empowerment, strengthening women’s and girls’ health and family planning, and accelerating women’s leadership”.

“The world has been fighting for gender equality for decades, but progress has been slow. Now is an opportunity to reignite a movement and bring real change,” said Melinda Frank Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. The statement said. “The beauty of our fight for gender equality is that everyone will benefit from it. We must seize this moment to build a better and more equal future.”

The organization stated that the Gates Foundation’s US$2.1 billion commitment includes US$650 million for economic empowerment initiatives, US$1.4 billion for family planning and health, and US$100 million for accelerating women’s participation in leadership roles.

The Generational Equality Forum, co-sponsored by the governments of France and Mexico, will be held from Wednesday to Friday. This is the first time in 25 years that advocates, governments, civil society groups and private sector partners have come together to jointly announce specific commitments and Policy actions to promote the interests of women and girls around the world.

The last such gathering was the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995 and was attended by thousands of activists.

Appeared from that meeting Beijing Declaration and Platform for ActionAccording to UN Women, the document is still regarded as “an important global policy document on gender equality” and has been adopted by 189 countries.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, approximately 40,000 participants are expected to participate in the Intergenerational Equality Forum, which is actually being held.

Melinda French Gates is one of the keynote speakers of the forum.She and her husband Bill Gates announced that they Divorced after 27 years of marriage last month.

Microsoft founder billionaire Bill and writer and businesswoman Melinda issued a joint statement on their Twitter accounts on May 3, announcing their divorce. They wrote in the statement that they will “continue to cooperate with the foundation.” , But no longer believe that they can “grow up together as a couple in the next stage of our lives.”

Since the divorce was announced, both of them have continued to work with the $50 billion foundation, and Other charities They contribute separately.