This article is different from previous articles I have chosen on here because it is a question and answer session with Melinda Gates, wife of billion Bill Gates. The couple currently heads the largest private foundation in the world. Recently Melinda has focused her efforts on educating women about health and birth control. The article suggests that the all-girls catholic school she grew up in played a role in what she now thinks is important issues to address. It looks like she balances what her religion has taught her and what she has learned from others.
I thought the first half of this article was really interesting. The reported asked important questions. One that caught my attention in particular was “Why don’t you direct more of your philanthropy towards the United States?” I think it is great that rich Americans, like the Gates, want to help people around the world but I think it’s equally if not more important to start focusing on problems in our own country first. Surely we need to help ourselves before we can help others. That being said, I really like that she is making birth control a big issue. More people need to realize that we cannot just simply tell others not to have sex. People are going to have sex (it’s what we do!) and without proper birth control they are going to have babies and certain areas of the world are going to continue to be over populated and problems of poverty and hunger are going to get worse.
The last few questions completely go away from what the article should be about. I thought the writer should have focused on the foundation more than random questions about technology.
1 comment:
I am also believer of the statement of protecting your own first. The issue of birth control is also a larger issue than people are aware of in today's society. Although we have plenty contraceptives and other preventative measures it seems to still continue in many areas. It seems the facebook surge of many of my friends putting up their pregnancy pictures is another way that we are being advocates to a cultural norm that is not a well concepted norm. Granted, articles and campaigns like this do help but I feel as though we have to start leading campaigns explain why girls have sex at such young ages which are usually tied to the belief that a relationship will develop and the partner will stick around. If we focused on somewhat the blind side in our society we can fix the visual issue.
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