Women Are Better Leaders In A Crisis
Raj Persaud
15 May 2020

While many countries continue to grapple with escalating COVID-19 outbreaks, two have declared theirs effectively over: New Zealand and Iceland. It is no coincidence that both countries’ governments are led by women.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Icelandic counterpart Katrín Jakobsdóttir have both received considerable – and well-deserved – praise for their leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. But they are not alone: of the top 10 best-performing countries (in terms of testing and mortality), four – Estonia, Iceland, New Zealand, and Taiwan – have woman leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen have also been commended for their pandemic leadership.

Women account for less than seven percent of the world’s leaders, so the fact that so many have distinguished themselves during the COVID-19 crisis is noteworthy. But that’s not all. Some of the worst-performing countries are led by unapologetically old-fashioned “men’s men.” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s entire persona channels a retrograde masculinity and a patriarchal view of women. Accordingly, he has called the virus a “measly cold,” boasting that he “wouldn’t feel anything” if infected.

In the United Kingdom (UK) – which has recorded the most COVID-19 deaths in Europe – Prime Minister Boris Johnson also has a history of sexist comments. Like Bolsonaro, Johnson’s first instinct was to minimise the threat COVID-19 poses, though he changed his tune after being infected and ending up in an intensive-care unit.

It’s the same story with United States (US) President Donald Trump. A leader who came to power gloating about powerful men’s ability to assault women sexually – which he and his supporters dismissed as “locker-room banter” – Trump has often worn his misogyny like a badge of honour. He, too, has consistently downplayed the COVID-19 crisis, focusing instead on “making China pay” for allowing the virus to spread beyond its borders.

Just as leaning into masculine stereotypes seems to correlate with poor pandemic responses, many observers seem to believe that woman leaders’ success may be rooted in their traditionally “feminine” qualities, such as empathy, compassion, and willingness to collaborate. Forbes called Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg’s televised address to her country’s children an example of the “simple, humane innovations” that are possible under female leadership.

This reading is outdated, reductive, and simply wrong. Trump and his ilk may act tough, but ultimately their leadership is an incompetent charade of bluster, vacillation, and self-aggrandisement. High-performing female leaders, by contrast, have been resolute, assessed the evidence, heeded expert advice, and acted decisively.

Following the mantra “go hard and go early,” Ardern imposed a strict lockdown four days before New Zealand’s first COVID-19 death. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen introduced more than a hundred public-health measures in January – when the World Health Organization (WHO) was still casting doubt on the possibility of human-to-human transmission.

If traditionally “feminine” traits don’t explain female leaders’ strong performance in times of crisis, what does? The answer may be related to the path women take to power, which is generally more demanding than that faced by men. In particular, it may be linked to the “glass cliff” phenomenon, whereby women are more likely than men to be appointed to leadership positions that are “risky and precarious.”

Research into the glass cliff began with the finding that, before appointing men to their boards, companies in the Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index (FTSE 100) typically experienced stable share prices. Before appointing a woman, however, those same companies often experienced five months of poor share-price performance. Another study found that companies listed on the UK stock exchange tended to increase gender diversity on their boards after experiencing big losses.

A similar tendency can be seen in politics. Margaret Thatcher became leader of a Conservative Party in crisis, and prime minister after a “winter of discontent.” Archival analysis of the 2005 UK general election found that female Conservative Party candidates tended to contest seats that would be significantly more difficult to win (judged according to their rival’s performance in the previous election).

Ardern also got her break by being thrust onto a glass cliff: she became the leader of New Zealand’s Labour Party in 2017 after poor polling forced her predecessor to resign. A mere two months later, she became the country’s youngest prime minister in 150 years.

According to researchers, the glass cliff may appear because organisations are more willing to challenge the status quo when the status quo isn’t working. The visible difference of having a woman in charge could also reassure stakeholders that change is happening. As for the women, they may be more likely to accept leadership positions in times of crisis because they have fewer opportunities to reach the top. They can’t simply wait for an easier post to open up.

Regardless of why it happens, the fact is that by the time a woman reaches the heights of corporate or political power, she is likely to have overcome massive hurdles. With men, that is possible, but far from guaranteed. Johnson (who was fired from multiple jobs for lying) and Trump (with his meticulously documented history of business failures, including several bankruptcies) never seem to run out of second chances. These leaders’ paths to power are characterised more by plush cushions than glass cliffs – and it shows.

I would say that it is broad strokes to go by gender, of course females possess brilliant qualities and perhaps are used to having to step up and be more resilient. However, specific to this article, the central commonality of these female leaders is they are all highly educated and elected for their expertise and professional experience. To get to the top and be electable they had to be, they are elected for their ability rather than ego or huff and bluff, so they are by default better equipped to be able to deal with and respond to extraordinary events such this, unlike say, our very own games show host Donny or Bolsonaro in Brazil or Johnson in the UK. Merkel is a goddam scientist, politics aside if you were given the choice of who would lead you in a pandemic response would it be a scientist or an ignorant crooked landlord?

There might be something valid about female leaders tending to be more conservative in nature, which has probably tended to be beneficial (ie lockdown at the slightest sense of trouble eg NZ, Greece).

Noone mentions though that the PM of Belgium - the worst affected country per capita according to the stats - is a woman, and Taiwan's success doesn't seem to be based on government policy as they never introduced any kind of lockdown whatsoever.

Yes Germany seems to have done well, but I don't see Merkel as being particularly womanly in nature.

I've summarised my perception (based mainly on their photos) of the personality types of the world's female leaders:

Germany - not gender specific
Bangladesh - not gender specific
Norway - not gender specific
Namibia - traditional African woman
Nepal - not gender specific
Burma - traditional Asian woman
Taiwan - not gender specific
Estonia - traditional western woman
Serbia - not gender specific/modern western woman
Singapore - not gender specific/traditional Asian woman
New Zealand - traditional western woman
Iceland - modern western woman
Trinidad and Tobago - traditional Caribbean woman
Barbados - traditional Caribbean woman
Ethiopia - not gender specific
Georgia - modern western woman
Slovakia - traditional western woman
Denmark - modern western woman
Belgium - not gender specific
Bolivia - modern western woman
Finland - modern western woman
Greece - traditional western woman

Not sure if this helps ?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_e ... government

What is a traditional western woman?

hunter8 wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 7:38 pm What is a traditional western woman?

One that ends up with the house!

hunter8 wrote: ↑Thu May 21, 2020 7:38 pm What is a traditional western woman?

A traditional western woman is a woman who is from the west but whose personality is not substantially affected by modern western female empowerment.

Let me give a couple of examples:


Germany PM - Non gender specific. To me she is just a leader, who would act no differently if she was a man. If she was around 30 years ago, people would have thought she was just another leader.

NZ PM - A traditional western woman. Clearly her gender influences her personality. However she does not come across as being particularly empowered on account of her being female. If she was around 30 years ago, people would have thought she was both a regular woman and a regular leader.

Denmark PM - A modern western woman. Clearly (based on her photo) her gender influences her personality. She appears likely as having been empowered on account of her being female. If she was around 30 years ago, people might have thought she was acting a bit strangely.

(tbh i'm just making this shit up to start a conversation)

tl;dr, but the two example countries are at the ends of the earth with lots of space and small populations

Finnish Prime Minister v British Prime Minister. You be the judge...



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