Melinda French Gates commits $215 million for menopause care

Melinda French Gates is donating $215 million to improve women’s health, including menopause care—the first midlife-focused investment of her new philanthropic work. The gift includes $10 million to the Menopause Society to train providers and expand access to

When Melinda French Gates thinks about menopause, she doesn’t picture a distant health issue. She remembers moments where the condition interrupted real life—like a ski trip where “one of the women had to literally leave the table because she had a hot flash.”

Now the philanthropist and author. 61. is putting real money behind what she calls an area the medical system has treated like it belongs “behind the scenes.” Gates is donating $215 million to improve women’s health. including during menopause. describing the effort as a way to use both her voice and her money to push the country to take the problem seriously.

“I’m both using my voice here and my money to say this is incredibly important,” she said. “We ought to be pouring a lot more money into this area so that women can thrive and so that they can step into their full power.”

Gates has previously pledged $1 billion to help women and families following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Her latest investment comes after decades of advocacy around reproductive health. including access to contraceptives and abortions. and after a period in which she says she has seen how often women are left to figure things out alone.

More than $400 million in women’s health in two years

In the past two years, French Gates has given more than $400 million to fund women’s health. She spent 24 years with the Gates Foundation. which she co-founded with her then-husband Bill Gates. giving away more than $100 billion with a focus on global health. including maternal care and health inequities.

The couple divorced in 2021, and while details of the agreement were kept private, the report that it included a reported multi-billion dollar fund to support French Gates’ philanthropic work has been widely circulated. She left the foundation in 2024 and began Pivotal.

Her focus sharpened after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade and left abortion rights up to states. At the time. she pledged $1 billion to help women and families. saying: “For too long. a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women’s rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. ” adding. “I want to help even the match.”.

This newest commitment, she says, is inspired by what she has seen in travel—women’s clinics in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and schools in Malawi—and by what she has lived through herself.

She describes herself as lucky: her three closest friends are a few years older, meaning she could learn from them as they navigated the shift into menopause. Still, she says her own physician was late to prescribe her hormonal therapy.

“We are way behind what we ought to know about this phase of life for women,” she said. “We’re way behind on knowing exactly how the hormones change and at what time. We’re way behind on sharing information with women.”

The price of that gap shows up in the way women seek help—or don’t. One survey Gates cites found that one in five women goes a year before a doctor diagnoses her menopause. Another finding she shared says that 5% of women seeking help for perimenopause or menopause saw 11 doctors before getting help.

Even people with means aren’t immune. French Gates has said she isn’t struggling to get her estrogen patches, but that does not erase how late and uneven information can be when it comes to hormones.

The grant starts with training providers

The $215 million investment begins with $10 million to the Menopause Society to train providers from gynecologists to family physicians.

The funds are also intended to continue supporting access to contraception and to train doctors in menopause care, while advancing research and care for conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women.

Gates argues that the problem starts in medical education. She pointed to a study finding that most doctors—even gynecologists—don’t receive adequate training on menopause during medical school. She also cited that less than one-third of the almost 100 obstetrics and gynecology residency program directors recently surveyed said they received training in their residencies.

Stephanie Faubion, medical director of the Menopause Society and director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Women’s Health, said the grant will help make care accessible and affordable.

Faubion said there are areas without trained menopause providers, and that only about two-thirds of menopause-certified providers report that they take insurance.

“For too long, this stage of life — this perimenopause and menopause phase — was honestly invisible,” French Gates said. “It was like a woman was just expected to deal with it behind the scenes.”

A deeper divide in who is expected to carry the burden

French Gates frames the push for better care as part of a larger pattern she has seen across her career: when gaps emerge, women are asked to absorb the consequences.

Whether the issue is maternal depression or menopause treatment, she argues women shouldn’t have to search for solutions alone.

“Women’s health for too long has been under prioritized and underfunded,” she said. She cited a global funding imbalance: for every dollar spent globally on health research and innovation, five cents goes towards women’s health.

“We need to change that because we know that when we do make the right investments in women’s health, then women can thrive,” she said. She added, “Man is the default in medicine, right? That’s where the research has been done.”

Her comments also land with additional weight because Gates has spoken publicly about how women are often forced to respond to questions that properly belong to men.

Earlier this year. she was reminded of that dynamic when her ex-husband’s name appeared in files released of late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. and media outlets asked her about it. Gates said: “Whatever questions remain there of what I don’t — can’t even begin to know all of it — those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband. They need to answer to those things, not me.”.

On the podcast “Wild Card” in February, she also addressed how society uses women by default—making them the ones who answer, solve, or absorb fallout.

“Sometimes on these societal issues we’re using the women by default to either answer or to solve a problem. I think we need to rethink that as a society and say, ‘You know, who’s responsible for which pieces?’” she told USA TODAY. “How do we change these norms?”

What menopause costs families and leadership pipelines

Gates links menopause care to broader outcomes for women’s work and leadership.

She cited figures showing that 1 in 10 women leave the workforce because of menopause, and another 1 in 5 considering retiring early. She argues that this can mean fewer women leaders at a time when women make up fewer than one-third of top jobs.

“They are at the prime of their career,” she said. “Just when the woman’s about to step into the CFO role. or step into the CEO or president role. like she has all this training and knowledge and experience. ” adding. “I think we want that put into the workforce not taken out. You have to be healthy to be able to do well at your job or at home.”.

In her telling, the stakes aren’t just medical—they’re about whether women remain fully in the workforce and fully in their lives.

She sees hope for women in their 50s and 60s, describing them as “incredibly enriching years.”

“They’re just incredibly enriching years,” she said. “And I feel lucky, to be alive and thriving at this age,” adding, “They have been some of the most, satisfying and productive years of my life. You know, I feel like my youngest says, ‘Gosh, Mom is living her best life now.’ ”

For Gates, the $215 million pledge is built around a simple belief: menopause shouldn’t require women to fight for basic information, and it shouldn’t demand they carry the burden alone.

Melinda French Gates women's health menopause Menopause Society Mayo Clinic Center for Women's Health reproductive health contraception access Dobbs decision Roe v. Wade Pivotal