Melinda Gates on ‘picking’ daughter Jennifer’s school with Bill Gates: What started as a small family negotiation ended up …

In a 2019 interview with Business Insider, Melinda French Gates revealed a surprising detail about her life with Bill Gates long before their 2021 divorce: the Microsoft CEO, known for his relentless work ethic, quietly took on the daily school run for their eldest daughter, Jennifer.The decision, she explained, was born from a family debate. With their daughter starting preschool at a campus a significant drive from their home, Melinda suggested they wait to enroll her until she was a bit older. Bill, however, was insistent. "He was really quite adamant that he thought we should start then," she recalled. "And he said, 'I'll drive them.'"

Bill Gates decision that 'surprised' Melinda and set a model

Melinda's surprise was echoed by other parents. Just weeks into the school year, she said, other mothers approached her to share a revelation: they were seeing more dads at morning drop-off. The reason? "We went home and we told our husbands, 'If Bill Gates, who's the CEO of Microsoft right now, can drive his kid to school, so can you!'"

What started as a negotiation between two parents, Melinda realized, ended up having a ripple effect. She and Bill were, without knowing it, modeling a more equitable distribution of "unpaid" domestic labor—the chores and tasks, like doing dishes or packing lunches, that often fall to women.

Melinda Gates on creating more balance in household

Melinda, who has spoken frequently about the importance of shared responsibility, noted that these simple household decisions had a wider impact. "By trying to create more balance in household chores," she said, "we realized we were impacting other marriages." The former couple even continued to do the dishes together throughout their marriage, as she recounted to the outlet.Ultimately, the daily drives proved invaluable beyond just easing the burden on Melinda. "Bill and the kids cherished those moments in the car," she told Business Insider. "Listening to music together, the conversations over many years that they had—it's a side of him that they might not have seen otherwise. It would've been a missed opportunity."Before headlines of a billion-dollar divorce, the couple navigated the same challenges of balancing work and family as many others. In the process, the founder of one of the world's most powerful companies quietly helped redefine what it meant to be a modern father—one carpool at a time.