Melinda French Gates calls out 'great problem' of DC politics: 'There are too many men with seats of

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

power still'

Melinda French Gates knows the US lags behind other countries in paid family medical leave, and she says electing more women and people of color would help close that gap.

"We are the only industrialized country that doesn't have a robust paid family medical leave policy, and that just shouldn't be," the billionaire philanthropist said in an interview with Fortune this week. "But you have to be frank: There are too many men with seats of power still on Capitol Hill in the United States."

Though there's a record number of women in the 117th Congress, they still make up just 28% of it, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service. And though this Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse in history, people of color make up roughly 25% of the Senate and House of Representatives, holding 136 of the 535 seats according to the report.

Earlier this week, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable organization she runs with her ex-husband and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, published a report finding the world won't achieve gender equality until at least 2108, three generations behind previous projections.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/melinda-french-gates-calls-out-great-problem-of-dc-politics-there-are-too-many-men-with-seats-of-power-still/ar-AA11WAAt

Sure we could use more women in Congress but they also need to be more than just concerned like Susan Collins.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Some years ago I read somewhere that women needed to

be around 40% of a country's lawmakers for things like true gender equality and good leave and medical policies to happen. I don't recall the exact percent given, but it didn't need to go over 50%, that much I remember.

[maxsolomon]

2. the thing standing in the way of paid family medical leave is REPUBLICANS.

Gates doesn't call that out, though.