The entire world is handling the novel coronavirus pandemic. One thing which has emerged in these months is that the countries led by female leaders are handling the pandemic, lockdown and exit strategy of the lockdown better than their male counterparts.
The global Covid 19 pandemic has brought the existing world communities to their knees. According to Johns Hopkins University’s Covid-19 tracker, as of October 14, a total of 38,642,377 Covid 19 cases have emerged across the world. The coronavirus pandemic has affected 1,094,399 lives in the world. Countries across the world imposed lockdown measures to reduce the spread of viruses. Countries are not just dealing with the pandemic but also with the additional crisis brought forward due to the pandemic and unplanned response to it. which include slower economic growth, unemployment, digital divide, increasing cases of domestic violence, etc.
Let us look at how some of the female led countries responded to Covid-19-
Angela Merkel – Germany
Germany has witnessed a far lower death rate compared to its neighbours, Italy, France and Spain. A scientist herself, Angela Merkel, considered a variety of different information sources in developing Germany’s coronavirus policy such as South Korea’s successful testing programs, epidemiological models, etc. Germany’s response to coronavirus began as early as March in which ICU beds were started to be freed up so that the hospitals do not get overburdened like Italy or Spain. As the country’s leader, Angela Merkel herself provided the weekly updates to Germany’s citizens.
Tsai Ing Wen – Taiwan
Under the leadership of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan has recorded 7 deaths due to coronavirus. Taiwan was also hit hard by the previous SARS outbreak, and had used the lessons from that experience to tackle the novel coronavirus. As response to the pandemic, Taiwan implemented quarantine of foreign travellers from Wuhan since December 2019 itself. With increased testing facilities and harnessing technology to connect travellers to community care support management systems, Taiwan has emerged as the global example for other countries.
Mette Frederiksen – Denmark
Denmark’s approach to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic could be best summarized by saying “Act fast and act with force”. With the first case of Covid 19 on February 27, lockdown measures were taken in March with its borders closing on March 14. Under Mette Frederiksen’s leadership, preventive measures were taken much earlier compared to the UK.
When the coronavirus cases were increasing worldwide in April, Denmark started its systematic plan to bring the country out of lockdown, becoming one of the first European states to announce the gradual and controlled easing of restrictions. As of October 13, Denmark registered its lowest number of new Covid-19 infections for over a month
Jacinda Ardern – New Zealand
New Zealand was one of the country’s to announce lockdown and take this new disease seriously. When the first man outside of China died due to Covid 19 in February, New Zealand started banning entry of people returning from China. Thereafter, the country closed its foreign travel when it had only about 100 cases. On the other hand,
Fast forward, on June 9, it was announced that New Zealand is free of covid 19 and they marked August 9th as the 100th day of virus elimination. With the second wave of coronavirus hitting New Zealand, the country has increased their testing capacity to combat it through effective public communication.
Other countries which have received praise on their handling of coronavirus include Iceland, Finland, Bangladesh, under the leadership of Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Sanna Marin, Sheikh Hasina. Iceland adopted the strategy of aggressive testing and coordinating between various government agencies to enforce quarantine rules and contact tracing. Finland had one of the lowest infection rates in Europe. Finland adopted the approach of not shutting down everything during lockdown and used the lockdown period to amp up its preparedness. Compared to other countries, even though Bangladesh had a higher population density, it fared better than the Philippines and Pakistan in terms of deaths.
Female leaders are handling the coronavirus pandemic better than male leaders
According to the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum’s study, countries led by female leaders are handling the coronavirus far better than their male counterparts. The research paper reasoned that this may be due to “the proactive and coordinated policy responses” adopted by female leaders.
Empathy and decisiveness are the two key traits that have allowed female leaders to succeed through the coronavirus crisis. Empathy allows these leaders to quickly grasp the severity of the situation, while timely decision-making means action is taken quickly. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor of business at Harvard Business School remarks, “Women don’t have a monopoly on these skills, but they might be less likely to let their egos get in the way, or play politics with the crisis.”
More females required in workforce
According to the World Bank, women’s participation in the workforce has dropped since 1995. U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed noted that more than a third of female 15-to-24-year-olds aren’t in school, jobs or training, more than twice the proportion of their male counterparts.
While these female leaders are inspiring women around the world, there is a long way ahead to reduce the gender gap. Out of 193 countries of the world, 21 countries have a female head of state. The pandemic has not only been a health crisis but also exposed the already existing socio-economic disparities. The United Nations had warned that the pandemic is exacerbating gender inequities.
The leadership qualities and values shown by the female leaders have the potential to change the perception of leadership itself. This could shape the leadership in future especially with the new challenges coming ahead due to climate change.
