Does the 'No Ethical Billionaires' Argument Extend to Women?

We've all heard the phrase "there are no ethical billionaires". And listen, I think it's a valid one. We live in a world with incredible wealth inequality, and it's simply not right that some people have billions while so many can't afford food, shelter, or basic necessities.

But in my mind, a billion dollars isn't some magical threshold that crosses someone from ethical to unethical. It's impossible to compare someone like Taylor Swift or Beyonce — women who made their fortunes on their art, then elevated themselves to billionaire status by making incredible business decisions around said art — to someone who has made their fortune by creating monopolies that put so many others out of business.

Recently, a man I know, someone who understands these systems far better than I do, said something that stuck with me:

"I'm okay with billionaires if they're women."

When Melindas French Gates's company, Pivotal, announced a major investment in women's health (a $215 million investment, to be exact), something clicked for me: This is what this person meant when he made that comment. Women's health and other issues have been historically underfunded, and we've seen the consequences of that play out in so many different ways.

As always, nothing changes for women unless women step in and change it. It's not enough to point out that women's health initiatives are underfunded, it's important to talk about why. It's because women are still working to catch up in a system that has for so long denied them any type of economic power. When women gain that power? That's when things start to shift.

The wealth gap would persist even if women were the only billionaires. The argument that no person should have a billon dollars when globally, so many people live in abject poverty, is very much a valid one. But when women have this kind of money and power? It certainly does seem to be wielded differently.

Should anyone have a billion dollars? No, not while so many people are literally starving.

But maybe, if women are the ones with the resources (even if those resources are in total excess), maybe those gaps will start to be filled...and maybe other issues will begin to be addressed, finally.