Melinda Gates once again went without her wedding ring as she met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday – posing for photos with him in the very same spot where she and ex-husband Bill celebrated being awarded the Commander of the Legion of Honour together.
The 56-year-old put on a very stylish display in a powder-blue blazer, white ruffle-collar shirt, and black trousers, and looked in very high spirits as she exchanged kisses with Macron – despite their meeting coming in the wake of fresh allegations that Bill, 65, behaved inappropriately towards female employees during his time at Microsoft.
Melinda and Macron’s photocall marks the second time that the mother-of-three has made a public appearance since announcing her divorce from the Microsoft billionaire back in May.
Mother-of-three Melinda met with the French political leader, 43, to discuss the Gender Equality Forum, one day after she spoke at the event in Paris – where she revealed that the Gates Foundation will dedicate $2.1 billion to advancing gender equality over the next five years.
Au revoir! Melinda Gates met with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace on Thursday to discuss gender equality, and the two were seen bidding a very fond farewell
Cordial: The mother-of-three shook hands and kissed President Macron on the cheeks as she left the presidential residence, looking chic in a powder-blue blazer and white blouse
Discussions: Although details of their meeting have not been shared, it is understood that they sat down to discuss the Gender Equality Forum, which Melinda spoke at on Wednesday in Paris
Looking back: Melinda, 56, and Macron, 43, posed in the same spot where she stood with ex-husband Bill after they were awarded Honorary Commander of the Legion of Honour in 2017
Message: The women’s rights advocate went without her wedding ring, marking the second time she has made a public appearance without it since announcing her divorce in May
Although details of their meeting have not been shared, it is understood that they sat down to further discuss the issues that Melinda raised during her appearance at the forum, where she made a renewed push for women’s rights.
Melinda and President Macron appeared incredibly friendly as they said their goodbyes outside of the Elysee Palace, shaking hands and kissing one another on both cheeks.
Their meeting – and Melinda’s campaign to improve gender equality around the world – comes as her ex-husband Bill was rocked by allegations that he behaved inappropriately towards female employees at Microsoft, which have continued to emerge ever since the couple announced their divorce after 27 years of marriage.
Multiple reports have surfaced claiming that Bill pursued extramarital affairs, while questions have also arisen over his friendship with late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
It appears as though Melinda is sending a clear message to her former spouse through her appearances in Paris.
During her trip, the philanthropist’s focus has remained on women’s rights, and she the $2.1 billion donation that she announced is one of the largest single commitments that that Gates foundation as made in more than two decades.
Melinda has long pushed for gender equality to be a key priority for the Seattle-based foundation, while Microsoft founder Bill has instead prioritized polio eradication and the development of vaccines in recent years.
Onward and upward: Melinda seemed to be in good spirits, despite her ex-husband facing multiple allegations of inappropriate behavior towards female employees at Microsoft
Positive: Both Melinda and Macron wore face masks as they made their way out of the palace
Mwah! The meeting between the pair, seen kissing one another on the cheek, came one day after Melinda pledged to donate $2.1b to advancing gender equality via the Gates Foundation
Major: The hefty donation is one of the largest single commitments that the Gates Foundation has made in more than two decades
Making a point? Melinda has long pushed for gender equality to be a key priority for the foundation, while Bill has been more focused on polio eradication and vaccine development
Speaking at the Gender Equality Forum on Wednesday, Melinda insisted that women ‘should not only have a seat at the table’ but that they should ‘be in every single room where policy and decisions are being made’.
‘What I know is that if you lift up women, if we lift up women and make sure they can use the voices they already have in all places of power and they have their full power and influence in the world those women and girls will lift up everybody else,’ she told the audience.
‘Women should not only have a seat at the table, they should be in every single room where policy and decisions are being made.’
Melinda said the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will direct $2.1 billion over the next five years to advancing global gender equality, working out at around $420 million each year.
The pledge includes $1.4 billion for health and family planning, $100 million for helping women get into positions of power in government and the workplace and $650 million to focus on economic empowerment.
In a statement ahead of her appearance at the event, Melinda said ‘the world has been fighting for gender equality for decades, but progress has been slow.’
She added that it was time to ‘reignite a movement and deliver real change.’
Several donors are expected to make similar pledges and commitments to gender equality at the event.
Vice President Kamala Harris also spoke at the event via video link as she insisted that the US will ‘fight alongside’ women who do not have the freedom of speech or the freedom to vote.
The Gates Foundation donates about $5 billion a year to different causes through its philanthropic work but the focus of its future commitments had been unclear following the split of the power couple.
Gates Foundation CEO Mark Suzman told the Wall Street Journal the new spending on gender equality had been approved by both Bill and Melinda.
While Melinda is the ‘primary face and voice’ of the foundation’s gender-equality work, ‘Bill is very deeply engaged as well,’ he said.
‘This is an issue which has been growing and growing in importance for us.’
Gates doubled down on his commitment to the cause in a statement to the Journal.
‘Prioritizing gender equality is not only the right thing to do, it is essential to fighting poverty and preventable disease,’ he said.
However, the pledge comes as Bill’s treatment of and behavior toward women has increasingly fallen under the spotlight since Melinda filed for divorce last month.
Maria Klawe, a former Microsoft board member from 2009 to 2015, told Business Insider this week that diversity was not something Bill ‘was interested in hearing about’.
When female executives would suggest initiatives to improve diversity at the company, he would allegedly respond: ‘Are you trying to effing destroy the company?’
Debut: On Wednesday, Melinda made her first public appearance since announcing her divorce, appearing at the forum without her wedding ring on
Big spend: Melinda revealed at the Generation Equality Forum that the Gates Foundation will spend $2.1 billion on gender equality over a five year period
A spokesperson for the Microsoft founder told Insider Klawe’s allegations are a ‘gross mischaracterization.’
The latest allegations come after Bill confessed last month that he had an affair with a female Microsoft worker back in 2000 while he was married to Melinda.
A report from the Wall Street Journal claimed he had an ‘inappropriate’ sexual relationship with a female staff member in 2000.
Bill was CEO of the company at the time. It is not clear what position or level of seniority the employee was.
The affair stayed a secret until 2019 when the employee wrote a letter to the board detailing what had happened and allegedly asking that Melinda read it.
The company opened an investigation into the claims.
While the investigation was still ongoing in March 2020, Bill shocked the business world by announcing he was resigning from his position on the company board.
The same day Bill stood down from the board of Berkshire Hathaway, run by his friend Warren Buffet.
Last week, Buffet announced he was resigning from the board of the Gates Foundation.
Bill’s spokeswoman confirmed he had an affair almost 20 years ago with a staff member and that the relationship ended ‘amicably.’ She denied the affair was connected in any way to his abrupt departure from the board.
Meanwhile, two female Microsoft employees also claimed he asked them out on dates and was known to have pursued several women at the tech giant during his marriage.
The New York Times reported two separate instances where he asked female employees out on dates.
In one case, he is said to have asked out a Microsoft employee in 2006 after watching her make a presentation.
‘If this makes you uncomfortable, pretend it never happened,’ Gates emailed the employee, according to the Times.
Upset: During their 27-year marriage, Bill and Melinda had three children together, Phoebe (left), Jennifer (center), and Rory (right)
A couple of years later, Bill then asked out an employee with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The pair were in New York for a work trip, when he told her: ‘I want to see you. Will you have dinner with me?’
The woman told the Times the approach made her feel uncomfortable, but she laughed it off.
There was no expectation that the women would suffer professional repercussions for spurning his advances, the Times reported.
It’s not clear whether Melinda was aware of her husband’s advances on other women.
However, she was aware of and unhappy with the handling of sexual harassment allegations against Michael Larson, one of Bill’s key lieutenants and the manager of his personal fortune, the report said.
In 2017, a person wrote to Bill and Melinda to complain that Larson was harassing a female staff member at a bicycle shop part-owned by a venture capital firm Rally Capital, owned by the former married couple.
The woman reached a settlement in 2018, signing a non-disclosure agreement and receiving a payout.
Bill’s spokeswoman denied Gates ever mistreated employees in a statement to the Times.
However, Melinda was reportedly unhappy with the outcome and ordered an independent investigation.
According to the New York Times, Larson was placed on leave during the investigation but was reinstated and still looks after Gates’ vast fortune.
Bill’s friendship with billionaire pedophile Epstein has also increasingly come under the spotlight in recent weeks.
The two men’s friendship began in 2011, three years after Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
There is no suggestion that Gates did anything wrong.