Shortly after my first book came out in 2019, an interviewer asked me: “Who or what is the greatest love of your life?” I answered in a heartbeat. “It’s an unbreakable tie between the foundation we started, the man I started it with, and the three children we have together.”

The version of me who answered that question had absolutely no idea what was on the horizon. Just two years later, I had ended my marriage. Then, around this time last year, I made the difficult decision to leave the Gates Foundation.

I’d spent most of my adulthood investing my time and energy into a marriage I thought would last my lifetime and a foundation I thought would be the center of my life’s work. I never expected that, at 60 years old, I would be entering a chapter without either. But I have learned through deeply humbling personal experience that it’s essential in life to leave room for your plans to change.

Even after we decided to divorce, Bill and I planned to continue to co-chair our foundation together. I believe deeply in the work our foundation does, so leaving was never going to be an easy decision. But as the world around me continued to change, I realized I was going to need to make a shift myself.

Over the past few years, the world has seen women’s rights rolled back from Afghanistan to Alabama. For me, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was a clarion call. I am simply not willing to accept that my granddaughters could grow up with less freedom than I did. I wanted to do everything in my power to help alter that trajectory. By leaving the foundation, I knew I would have more time and resources to devote to this fight.

When I announced my decision, I wrote that, for too long, underfunded organizations fighting for women’s rights have been forced to play defense, while those working against progress can afford to play offense. I wanted to help even the match.

Melinda French Gates visits with students in the Ludzi Girls Secondary School in Mchinji, Malawi.

Photo courtesy of The Obama Foundation

I started moving resources right away, making major grants to several U.S. organizations working to protect women’s rights and advance women’s power and influence. I tried a new philanthropic approach by inviting 12 activists, advocates, and global leaders whose work I admire to each distribute $20 million in charitable grants however they saw fit, hoping their perspectives would help expand my own. I also created a $250 million initiative focused on improving the mental and physical health of women and girls around the world, intended to lift up grassroots organizations that don’t usually get the energy and attention they deserve.

While the past few years have been humbling, they’ve also been incredibly clarifying. I would still tell you that my three children — now joined by two granddaughters! — are the loves of my life. For everything else that’s changed, though, my commitment to putting more power in the hands of women and girls has only grown fiercer.

This feature is part of our annual Trailblazing Women series, honoring 10 women who turn challenges into progress and lead with courage, vision, and grit.