Building the Future. A Feminist Approach (about Melinda French Gates’ book)

In her autobiographical opus, « The Next Day », Melinda French Gates stresses the importance of personal transitions. In today’s America, the book can also be read as a political call for action.

In 2023, I wrote in my book “Calm down, madam, it’s going to be okay”. Receptions of feminism that, fortunately, perfect feminism did not exist. Accusations of imperfection should be reserved for the enemies of gender equality, and in particular for those who intend to speak “for the good of women”. Bad Feminist‘s closing sentence is “I’d rather be a bad feminist than no feminist at all”. In this celebrated essay, published in 2014, Roxane Gay reminds us that society expects feminism to “always do the right thing”. The misconception, the illusion, the aporia of an irreproachable feminism fails to take into account the complexity of individual lives and experiences. There is indeed not one but many feminisms. “Talking is the most important thing we have done in recent years, as we never spoke before. And what counts today is taking care of our words” (Virginie Despentes).

Women who speak out in the public arena, and feminists in particular, are to be as flawless as a story on Instagram. Yet, we need fallible, living feminism; we need to debate. If we cannot evolve, it is pointless expecting others to do so. “Trial and error” are key to progress.

As I have written on several occasions, feminism is as much an instrument for analyzing reality as it is a corpus of knowledge and know-how that brings people together and creates links. I would add that it is also a strategic tool, capable of reaching multiple interlocutors. Every voice defending women therefore deserves to be heard, provided of course that this voice is sincere in its desire to promote women’s freedom and rights, and the fight against gender discrimination. For example, the extreme right’s use of “natural female identity” in order to ban access to abortion and contraception, and to advocate the maintenance of gender roles in society, is a mystification.

Turning doubt into strength

Melinda French Gates has published a short autobiography, focusing on forced or chosen transitions in life. It is entitled The Next Day. In it, the author talks about the choices we are free, or forced, to make, following happy events, but also tragedies from which we emerge inconsolable. About what you leave behind and what you take with you. “The real work begins the day after”, the day following an upheaval, whether expected or not. How do you deal with the unknown, the uncertain? How do you adapt, evolve and, very prosaically at times, “comment sauver sa peau?” – as we say in French. She recounts the lack of female role models in her youth in the heart of traditional Catholic America, where TV series reproduced stereotypes. But she pays tribute to her parents for telling her that she could achieve anything; to her father, who encouraged her to study computer science, and to her mother, who always supported her in her choices. She recounts her difficult start at university, accustomed as she was to asking permission before speaking up in class in high school, and suddenly discovering the shamelessness and arrogance of her male classmates. She also explains how she decided to divorce her husband.

Melinda French Gates’ book shows that it is possible to “tell your story” (remember Michelle Obama: “your story is your power”) without being pretentious (“raconter” and not “se la raconter”, in French again). Her philanthropic commitment, first through the foundation she created with her husband and then through her organization, Pivotal, devoted notably to women’s health and rights in the United States and abroad, was reaffirmed before and in the aftermath of Trump’s election. Melinda French Gates immediately called for anti-Trump mobilization on the ground since November 5, and has been doing her part.

This is what makes The Next Day, and contrary to appearances, not a self-help book in the general meaning. This book is political and part of its author’s concrete and undisputed commitment to women’s rights and human rights in general. Indeed, how can we fail to see the parallels between the story of her personal journey and the situation in America today?

What can we do with our doubts, with what we think is discouragement? We can turn them into strength and inspiration. Feminism has shown that the private is political, and that confronting one’s intimate sufferings builds a fighting spirit that can then help others. There will be an “after-Trump”. We need to build it.

The Next Day. Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward, by Melinda French Gates, Bluebird, Flatiron Books, 2025, $18.