Women Do It Better
Today’s New York Times has a very informative and interesting article about MacKenzie Scott. Scott is the ex-wife of billionaire Jeff Bezos. The article is a minibiography of Ms. Scott but what intrigued me is her attitude toward the billions she received in her divorce settlement with Bezos. Read the article to learn about her life growing up, becoming a writer, and being mentored by Toni Morrison. But there is a need to talk about her relation to the billions of dollars she controls.
Ms. Scott is a philanthropist with a vengeance. She began giving it away in 2019 when her divorce from Bezos was finalized. She gives anonymously and chooses where to direct her money. As the NYT article points out, she has elected to do without a formal foundation and has been criticized for that in some quarters because her decision process for donations is not entirely transparent. But boy, does she give.
Her concerns are in areas I readily admit I endorse, rectifying inequalities and promoting social justice. She wrote on her blog in March that so far she has given to 1257 groups – and she lists them. The groups include organizations working to prevent teen suicide, groups that empower grassroots activists around the world, organizations working to improve the education of Black children, historically Black colleges and universities, Planned Parenthood, climate change and conservation – the list goes on and on. To me, this represents the one good thing about people who accumulate great wealth: the best ones give it away for the betterment of others.
In the old days, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Edsel Ford, and others of the early industrial age returned their wealth to America for the public good. (BTW, Ron Chernow’s Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. is great reading to understand this era of philosophy as well as the ruthless business practices that created it.). Forbes counts 2668 billionaires currently. The world is awash in wealthy people. Not all of them are like Mackenzie Scott, sadly.
It is true that women have long been involved in philanthropy, even if behind the scenes. Now women such as Ms. Scott and Melinda Gates are leading the way. Their generosity to ideas such as correcting inequalities, providing education at all levels, social justice, and climate change is amazing to watch. I have said this many times before and I will say it again: I firmly believe that the world would be a better place if women ran it. In truth, women do it better than men.
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