CNN: Bill and Melinda Gates: What superpower do you wish you had?
Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“…[F]or billions of families around the world, the challenges of energy and time are very different from ours — and these challenges have a huge impact on their ability to realize their potential. … Without access to energy, the poor are stuck in the dark, denied all of the economic, social and health benefits that come with power. So if we really want to help the world’s poorest families, we need to find a way to get them access to energy they can afford. And we need to do it in a way that doesn’t make climate change worse, because the poor are more vulnerable to extreme weather and other climate impacts than anyone else. … The more than one billion people without energy spend a significant portion of their time collecting wood and water for the basics of life: heating and cleaning their homes and cooking their food. Almost invariably, that grueling and time-consuming labor is done by women and girls. … This heavy and unequal burden is unfair. It’s also a serious obstacle to progress, because women are so busy meeting basic needs that they can’t invest in the future by doing paid work, going to school, or visiting the doctor regularly. … We’d love to play a role in inspiring young people to help shift those norms…” (2/23).