Female Leadership is Not Only Inspirational- But Necassary

As of 31st of July 2020, there are 17,106,007 Covid-19 cases with 668,910 deaths globally- statistics taken from the World Health’s Organisation’s (WHO) official website. These high numbers are devastating and point to the fatal impact that coronavirus can have on individuals. However, from these high statistics, another question arises: how many of these deaths could have been prevented?

I pose this question because I have witnessed while living in the UK, that many of the population deaths were preventable. The UK knew of the impact of Covid-19 on the human body as early as January and instead of taking these warnings seriously, they welcomed the virus with open arms calling for a nationwide ‘herd immunity.’ This proved catastrophic and it was only until March did Johnson’s government do a U-turn and put us all under stringent lockdown. However, by this time it was too late: the National Health Service (NHS) was unprotected as workers suffered a lack of protective equipment and deaths were steadily rising to the apex of 4,419 by late April. Boris Johnson’s late response to the pandemic has resulted in the loss of innocent vulnerable civilians- deaths that could have been prevented had Johnson taken the earlier precautions.

UK NHS Service's amidst the pandemic

Unfortunately, Johnson’s handling of the virus is not an isolated event and mimics other male leaders’ approach to the virus. The president of Brazil- Jair Bolsonaro- has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, rejected the advice of WHO officials and fought with governors who have been trying to prepare precautions for Brazilian people. Now, as it stands on the 31st of July, due to his selfish indifference of the Brazilian people, there have been 2.7 million cases with 92,568 deaths confirmed. How many of these deaths could have actually been prevented had Bolsonaro actually taken the threat seriously? The same can be said of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi: despite his stringent lockdown measures, Modi did nothing to accommodate the millions of displaced migrant workers, who have been rendered homeless and jobless from the pandemic. As it stands there are 38,938 deaths with 1.86 million cases in India. In all these cases, so many people have died at the hands of callous male leaders who have left precautions too late. 

Perhaps these three cases show that Covid-19 really is too difficult to control, and no amount of leadership could have properly controlled the outbreak. Yet, I would argue that is not the case because when we consider other female leader’s approaches to the outbreak, the pandemic could, in fact, be controlled greatly.  Take, for instance, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic- heralded globally as one of the most effective and best strategies the world has seen. When the number of cases had reached only 100 on March 15th New Zealand announced it's closing of borders and made travelers self-isolate for 2 weeks.  This was closely followed by a strict lockdown and mass testing.  As a result, a total of 22 people had died with 1,156 confirmed cases. Ardern’s quick and swift response to the pandemic is indicative of the power of female leadership. Her approach to the outbreak shows that while the virus is in itself life-threatening, with capable leadership, it can be controlled and people can be protected from it. 

Ardern’s response to the pandemic is very similar to many other female leaders’ approaches to the pandemic. Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-Wen closed it borders on January 20 when they understood the threat of the virus. She utilized the health system and immigration agency to trace potential victims of the virus and rationed essential resources to distribute across Taiwan.  There was also close co-operation between police agencies, local officials and telecom companies to enforce quarantine with the support of mobile tracing and testing. As a result, there has been a total of 474 cases and 7 deaths. As with Ardern, Ing-Wen’s exemplary response to the pandemic proves that female leaders are incredibly capable of controlling a deadly virus and protecting the most vulnerable in the process. What differentiates Ardern and Ing-Wen from Johnson, Modi and Bolsonaro is that they took the virus very seriously early on, refusing to wait till numbers grew, and reacted quickly. 

Taiwan's Mass Testing Services

Norwegian Prime Minister’s Erna Solberg’s response to the virus shows how creative female leadership can be. Following an early lockdown, mass testing of Norwegians, and quarantine of foreign travelers, Solberg held a news conference dedicated to answering children’s questions of the pandemic. Solberg answered questions such as  “can I have a birthday party?” or “can I visit my grandparents after I went to a shopping center?” with clear advice such as “by being home you are helping other people not be contaminated and get sick. It is important for those who already have a disease or who are very old.” Three crucial aspects of leadership are ‘direction-giving’ ‘meaning-making and empathy’ and research has shown that typically, that direction-giving is over-used while the latter are underused. Solberg’s clear advice during this conference, where she accompanies her directions with meanings shows that Solberg possesses these three crucial traits and makes for a capable, effective leader. 

Compare these three cases of capable female leadership with that of male ones, and the results it has achieved (countless lives saved, services and business covered for) and it becomes clear that female leadership is not only inspirational but necessary. Where we see a deflection of responsibility, divisive policies and general indifference in male leadership, female leadership is smart, calculating and empathetic. The low death counts of New Zealand, Taiwan and Noway show that it isn’t the virus that kills but male indifference, greed and selfishness that does.