You are part of the solution.
 | By Eleanor Barkhorn Staff Editor, Opinion |
Linsey McGoey has been asking questions about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for a while now. |
McGoey, a sociology professor at the University of Essex in England, published a book in 2015 called "No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy." It made a provocative point, as she describes in a guest essay today: |
"Asking Bill Gates to fix inequality is like asking an arsonist to hose down your house after he just set it on fire. Philanthropists might have the deep pockets to fund the fire engine and water hose, but the money is coming from making our houses unlivable in the first place." |
Her argument is that billionaires like Gates help contribute to inequality around the world, through corporate tax avoidance, the vast wage gap between executives and low-paid workers, and other policies. So why should we entrust them to solve global problems like hunger and disease? Indeed, McGoey argues that the Gateses have made a host of questionable decisions with their foundation, from creating a "secretive management structure" to giving money to efforts led by corporations such as Mastercard. |
The recent news of the divorce of Bill and Melinda Gates has inspired a new wave of scrutiny of the Gates family. McGoey sees this moment as an opportunity: |
"The best thing to come out of a sad event like this divorce is recognition that today's global problems are ours to tackle, we the people — interdependent, global members of the public — through solidarity and shared science." |
Whether or not you're convinced by McGoey's arguments about the problems with the Gates Foundation, her call to action is inspiring. She urges us to stop expecting "unaccountable philanthropists" like the Gateses to solve the world's problems. That task is on us — all of us. |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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