--- title: Melinda Gates Op-Ed Women Affected by Donald Trump Budget description: Find out what Melinda Gates wrote in an 'USA Today' op-ed about how President Donald Trump's budget proposal would impact global women. canonical: https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-03T13:55:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:20.513Z og:title: Melinda Gates Highlights Dangers Trump's Budget Proposal Poses to Women Overseas og:description: ‘I hope you will speak up loud and clear’ og:url: https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf7265c275d36e5/6988c0eddcd4a17ed9075193/melinda-gates-women-op-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Melinda Gates Highlights Dangers Trump's Budget Proposal Poses to Women Overseas twitter:description: ‘I hope you will speak up loud and clear’ twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf7265c275d36e5/6988c0eddcd4a17ed9075193/melinda-gates-women-op-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Melinda Gates Highlights Dangers Trump's Budget Proposal Poses to Women Overseas by [Alana Abramson / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Alana Abramson / Fortune Apr 3, 2017 1:55 PM UTC  NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 02: Melinda Gates attends the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards at Museum of Modern Art on November 2, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/WireImage) NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 02: Melinda Gates attends the WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards at Museum of Modern Art on November 2, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/WireImage)Noam Galai—WireImage by [Alana Abramson / Fortune](https://time.com/author/fortune/) ## Alana Abramson / Fortune Apr 3, 2017 1:55 PM UTC [Melinda Gates](http://fortune.com/worlds-greatest-leaders/melinda-gates-4/) is trying to raise awareness for what she claims are the dangers, particularly for women, of [President Trump’s](http://fortune.com/2017/03/31/donald-trump-sexual-assault-awareness-month/) budget proposal to [cut foreign aid. ](http://fortune.com/2017/03/28/trump-budget-travel-impact/) “As the debate over cutting funding for development assistance continues, we will be asked whether we believe that investing in developing countries and the women and girls who live there is worth it. I hope you will insist that it is,’ she wrote in a [Sunday op-ed](https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/04/02/melinda-gates-foreign-aid-cuts-indonesia-contraceptives-column/99817754/) for “USA Today.” Gates described how a recent trip to Indonesia reinforced the importance of foreign aid in improving societies, especially when that money goes toward contraceptives and family planning. “Many people don’t realize the role contraceptives play in building a more stable and prosperous world,” Gates explained. “When I started looking at the data, I learned that contraceptives are actually one of the greatest [anti-poverty innovations](http://lanfiles.williams.edu/sl2/Browne%5FLaLumia%5FJPAM.pdf) the world has ever seen.” The White House budget proposal, released March 13 and titled “America First,” proposes steep cuts to foreign aid and the State Department in favor of building up the United States military, and refocuses economic assistance to countries that provide the greatest “strategic value” to the United States. And on January 23, the White House [reinstated a ban ](http://motto.time.com/4643524/donald-trump-international-abortion-funding/)on providing federal funds to international groups that performed or assisted with abortions. Gates also urged readers to speak out against this policy. “I hope you will speak up loud and clear for the power of contraceptives to transform nations and build a better world for all of us,” she wrote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/"},"headline":"Melinda Gates Highlights Dangers Trump's Budget Proposal Poses to Women Overseas","datePublished":"2017-04-03T13:55:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:20.513Z","description":"‘I hope you will speak up loud and clear’","url":"https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/","keywords":["motto","women","Melinda Gates","contraception","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf7265c275d36e5/6988c0eddcd4a17ed9075193/melinda-gates-women-op-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf7265c275d36e5/6988c0eddcd4a17ed9075193/melinda-gates-women-op-ed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards","caption":"WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards","creditText":"Noam Galai—WireImage","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4722788/melinda-gates-donald-trump-budget-women/","name":"Melinda Gates Highlights Dangers Trump's Budget Proposal Poses to Women Overseas"}}]}] ```