02 盖茨基金会拟捐赠21亿美元支持女性事业

此举是这家世界最大慈善组织自盖茨夫妇宣布离婚以来的首个重大举措。认捐资金将在五年期间捐赠到位，分为三大类别。

全文共567个词, By Joshua Chaffin in New York

The Gates Foundation is pledging to donate $2.1bn to support women’s economic and health issues in its first major initiative since the world’s largest philanthropic group was jolted by the announcement last month that its co-chairs, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, were ending their marriage.

盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)承诺捐赠21亿美元，支持在经济和健康方面帮助女性的事业。就在5月，该基金会受到其联合主席比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)和梅琳达·弗伦奇·盖茨(Melinda French Gates)宣布离婚的震动，而此举是这家世界最大慈善组织自那以来的首个重大举措。

The issue of gender equality is dear to French Gates, a former Microsoft executive, who has in recent years embraced it as her overriding mission. In addition to the Gates Foundation, she also operates a $5bn investment fund, Pivotal Ventures, devoted to women’s causes.

身为微软(Microsoft)前高管的梅琳达很关心性别平等问题，近年来将其视为自己的首要使命。除了盖茨基金会以外，她还运营着致力于女性事业的50亿美元投资基金Pivotal Ventures。

But the Gates Foundation’s support for women’s issues has become awkward after reports emerged about Bill Gates’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the financier who killed himself in his jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial over charges that he trafficked underage girls.

但在媒体报道比尔·盖茨与被控贩卖未成年女孩、2019年在羁押候审期间在牢房自杀身亡的金融家杰弗里·爱泼斯坦(Jeffrey Epstein)有交情之后，盖茨基金会对女性事业的支持变得尴尬。

A spokesperson has said Gates regretted meeting Epstein, and that he had done so only to discuss philanthropic projects.

一位发言人表示，盖茨后悔与爱泼斯坦会面，而他当初这样做只是为了讨论慈善项目。

The latest pledge money will be donated over five years, and spread across three broad categories: $650m for economic empowerment, in part by supporting family care and other unpaid tasks that fall heavily on women; $1.4bn for family planning and contraceptives; and $100m to help women vault into leadership roles in business, politics and other arenas.

最新的认捐资金将在五年期间捐赠到位，分为三大类别：6.5亿美元投入经济赋权——部分用于支持家庭照顾和其他主要落在女性身上的无偿工作；14亿美元投入家庭生育计划和避孕用品；以及1亿美元投入帮助女性在商业、政治和其他领域担任领导角色。

The donation coincides with the Generation Equality Forum, a UN-sponsored event that will bring together governments and non-profit groups for three days in Paris to advance the cause of gender equality.

此次捐赠正值“世代平等论坛”(Generation Equality Forum)召开，由联合国赞助的这项活动将让各国政府和非营利组织在巴黎齐聚一堂，为期三天，旨在推进性别平等事业。

That mission, say backers, has been given fresh impetus by the coronavirus pandemic, which has taken a disproportionate economic toll on women by pushing them out of the workforce and forcing them to shoulder a greater burden of family care.

支持者表示，新冠疫情使性别平等事业获得新的动力，因为疫情给女性造成更大的经济代价：把她们赶出劳动力市场，并迫使她们承担更大的家庭照顾负担。

In a statement, French Gates said: “The world has been fighting for gender equality for decades but progress has been slow. Now is the chance to reignite a movement and deliver real change.”

梅琳达在一份声明中表示：“几十年来，世界一直在为性别平等而斗争，但进展缓慢。现在是重新点燃一场运动并带来真正变革的机会。”

The announcement comes at a moment of tumult for the $50bn Gates Foundation, which is funded by the fortune Gates amassed as co-founder of Microsoft.

做出这一宣布之际，500亿美元的盖茨基金会正处于多事之秋。该基金会的资金来自比尔·盖茨作为微软联合创始人积累的财富。

When they announced their marital split, Gates and French Gates insisted they remained committed to its mission and would continue to work together.

宣布离婚时，盖茨和梅琳达坚称他们仍然致力于履行基金会的使命，并将继续一起工作。

But some former executives have questioned whether the philanthropic juggernaut can continue to operate as it is currently constituted. Those concerns deepened after Warren Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway chair who has committed most of his fortune to the foundation, announced last week that he was resigning as a trustee.

但一些前高管质疑这家慈善巨擘能否继续在现行的结构下运营。加深这些担忧的是，伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway)董事长、已承诺把自己的大部分财产捐给该基金会的沃伦·巴菲特(Warren Buffett)上周宣布，他将辞去受托人职务。

Mark Suzman, the foundation’s chief executive, has told staff that he will unveil additional changes to its governance next month.

该基金会的首席执行官马克·苏斯曼(Mark Suzman)已告诉员工，他将在7月公布治理方面的新变化。

In a statement announcing the $2.1bn pledge, Gates said: “Prioritising gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to fighting poverty and preventable disease.”

盖茨在宣布21亿美元捐赠承诺的一份声明中表示：“把性别平等作为优先事项不仅是正确的事情，而且对于战胜贫困和可预防的疾病也是必要的。”

Meanwhile, the foundation also presented fresh economic data illustrating how the pandemic has exacerbated gender inequality by pushing women out of the workforce in disproportionate numbers.

与此同时，该基金会还展示了新的经济数据，说明疫情将特别多的女性赶出劳动力市场，从而加剧了性别不平等。

According to data from the International Labour Organization, unemployment among women increased by 13m between 2019 and 2020 — and is projected to rise by another 2m this year — while men have largely recovered jobs lost during the pandemic.

根据国际劳工组织(ILO)的数据，从2019年至2020年期间，女性失业人数增加1300万——预计今年将进一步增加200万——而男性在疫情期间丢失的工作岗位，基本上已经失而复得。

“Gender equality is an economic necessity,” French Gates wrote in a separate letter. “One of the main reasons economies were so fragile in the first place was that women were marginalised. And those economies will never bounce back if their leaders continue to marginalise women.”

“性别平等是一项经济需要，”梅琳达在另一封信中写道。“各经济体从一开始就如此脆弱的一个主要原因是女性被边缘化。如果这些经济体的领导人继续边缘化女性，这些经济体将永远不会恢复过来。”

本文6月30日发布于FT中文网，英文原题为 Gates Foundation pledges to donate $2.1bn to women’s causes