Hats Off to Women Power - Are Women Leaders Better for The World?
By
Asad Mirza
August 23,
2020
The Covid
pandemic has shown that the countries led by women leaders at the national
level have better coped with the crisis. These countries also suffered half as
many deaths as were averaged by countries led by men.
The success
of Germany’s Angela Merkel, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Denmark’s Mette
Frederiksen, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen and Finland’s Sanna Marin attracted many
headlines but now a comparative analysis has been completed to show that the
women leaders fared much better than their male counterparts.
Role of
Women Leaders
A report
published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic
Forum based on the steps taken by leaders of 194 countries, concludes that the
difference is real and “may be explained by the proactive and coordinated
policy responses” adopted by female leaders.
Supriya
Garikipati, a developmental economist at Liverpool University and Uma
Kambhampati of Reading University, the authors of the report, while speaking to
The Guardian said, “Our results clearly indicate that women leaders reacted
more quickly and decisively in the face of potential fatalities.”
They
further said, “In all cases, they locked down earlier. While this may have
longer-term economic implications, it has certainly helped these countries to
save lives, as evidenced by the significantly lower number of deaths in these
countries.”
Policy and
strategy responses besides the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths until 19 May
were taken into account to analyse the results along with other variables and
reliable comparisons between different countries.
GDP, total
population, population density and proportion of elderly residents, as well as
annual health spending per head, openness to international travel and level of
gender equality in society in general, were the different variables taken into
account.
Global
Women Leaders of The Past
Till
November 2019, 89 women leaders have graced the office of the prime minister or
president in different countries around the world.
The first
woman to be democratically elected as prime minister of a country was Sirimavo
Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka, when she led her party to victory at the 1960 general
elections and chartered a new path for asserting the Sinhala sentiment in the
Sri Lankan politics.
The first
woman to serve as president of a country was Isabel Martínez de Perón of
Argentina, who as vice-president succeeded to the presidency in 1974. The first
elected woman president of a country was Vigdís Finnbogadóttir of Iceland in
1980.
Included in
the list is also Golda Meir, who was the fourth prime minister of Israel. The
world’s fourth and Israel’s first and only woman to hold the office of prime
minister, she was described as the “Iron Lady” of Israeli politics; the term
which was later applied to British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Indian
prime minister Indira Gandhi, also. Former Israeli prime minister David
Ben-Gurion used to call Meir “the best man in the government”.
Then we
have, Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to become prime minister of the UK.
Her policies were referred to as ‘Thatcherism’, she was given the sobriquet
‘Iron Lady’, due to her uncompromising politics and leadership style. She led
Britain to victory in the Falklands War and single-handedly broke the miners’
strike in 1984-85.
In Asia, we
have many women leaders of tall stature, such as, Chandrika Kumaratunga,
daughter of Srimavo Bandranaike, who graced the office as Sri Lanka’s first
female President. She was able to handle
the Tamil-issue in the island nation to a peaceful end after many setbacks.
Mrs. Indira Gandhi
------
In India,
we had Indira Gandhi, who became the longest serving prime minister of the
country. She led the country to a decisive victory in 1972 against Pakistan and
was instrumental in the creation of Bangladesh. Gandhi remained a staunch
supporter of the Palestinians in the Arab–Israeli conflict and was critical of
the Middle East diplomacy sponsored by the United States. In 1999, BBC named
her as the “Woman of the Millennium” in an online poll. Time magazine also
named her among world’s 100 powerful women who defined the last century.
Benazir Bhutto
-----
Then we
have Benazir Bhutto, who graced the office of country’s premiership, twice, in
Pakistan. Ideologically a liberal and a secularist, she chaired or co-chaired
the Pakistan Peoples Party from the early 1980s until her assassination in
2007.
Then we
have two warring ladies of Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, both of
whom served or are serving as the prime minister of the country. Forbes
magazine ranked Khaleda at number 33 in the list of 100 Most Powerful Women in
the World. On the other hand Sheikh Hasina was included in the list of“top 100
Global Thinkers” of the present decade. Currently, she is a member of the
Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former
female presidents and prime ministers.
Further in
India, we have had 16 women who served as chief minister of various Indian
states or union territory. Amongst them some of the stalwarts were Sucheta
Kriplani, Anwara Taimur, Mehbooba Mufti, Mamta Banerejee, Jayaram Jayalalithaa
and Mayawati. The last two served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and Uttar
Pradesh. Both of whom are described as megalomaniac and assertive, but also
credited with charting a new course in the Indian politics. PV Narasimha Rao,
former prime minister of India, described Mayawati’s rise from humble
beginnings as a “miracle of democracy”
So Why
Are Women Leaders More Successful?
So, what
are the reasons, which could be contributed to the success of these women
leaders taking better decisions to handle the welfare of their citizens? Can we
count pragmatism, more rationality and the women touch to be the pluses of
their actions? Perhaps research will shed more light on the attributable
factors, but historically also we can say that these women leaders took their
countries to newer heights due to their grit, dedication and the will to
survive in a man’s world. Hats off to women power.
-----
Asad
Mirza is a Sr journalist and commentator based in New Delhi. He was also associated with BBC Urdu Service
and Khaleej Times of Dubai. He writes on
Muslims, educational, interfaith, international and current affairs.
Original
Headline: Women leaders, are they better for the world?
Source: The Greater Kashmir