In the Seattle Times, Sandi Doughton gives some details about how Melinda Gates Pivotal Ventures is supporting paid leave projects: she began to think about inequities that persist even in the United States. "It made me realize that there are issues we need to look at"...
Another cause Gates is tackling through Pivotal Ventures is paid family leave. The Gates Foundation offers its employees up to a year of paid leave to care for new children, and the city of Seattle recently bumped up its benefit to 12 weeks.
Programs like those are common in most other rich countries, but rare in the United States.
Gates said she’s been investing in public policy analyses to identify ways to create and fund family-leave programs.
“Ultimately, it’s up to governments to decide, but what I want to put out there are several different options,” she said.