What the data really says about women leaders and the pandemic
Source: Wired
Women leaders were more likely to crush it in the pandemic than their male counterparts. At first, few seemed to question whether this were true, though plenty debated why it would be so. Was it because of the women themselves, and their more “female” leadership style? Or was it a signal about the societies that elected them? Whatever the explanation, belief in the phenomenon itself may have only gained adherents since. “There seems to be a pattern here,” tweeted the prominent physician Eric Topol just the other day, noting there is now “real data to back this up.”
On one level, I get it. I’m a firm believer in the importance and benefits of diversity in leadership, including gender diversity. And I, too, have Jacinda Ardern envy: The New Zealand prime minister’s ability to ace any given task leaves me in equal parts impressed and wishing, “if only.” Angela Merkel’s off-the-cuff explanations of epidemiological concepts have been a joy. My longing for this sort of leadership was intensified by living in the US for the first two years of its reality-TV presidency—and I’m no fan of the (male) prime minister of my home, Australia, either. But jumping from so few examples to the conclusion that the gender of political leaders has been decisive during this pandemic? That just looked to me like confirmation bias.
Click here to read the full article published by Wired on 1 July 2020.
Women leaders were more likely to crush it in the pandemic than their male counterparts. At first, few seemed to question whether this were true, though plenty debated why it would be so. Was it because of the women themselves, and their more “female” leadership style? Or was it a signal about the societies that elected them? Whatever the explanation, belief in the phenomenon itself may have only gained adherents since. “There seems to be a pattern here,” tweeted the prominent physician Eric Topol just the other day, noting there is now “real data to back this up.”
On one level, I get it. I’m a firm believer in the importance and benefits of diversity in leadership, including gender diversity. And I, too, have Jacinda Ardern envy: The New Zealand prime minister’s ability to ace any given task leaves me in equal parts impressed and wishing, “if only.” Angela Merkel’s off-the-cuff explanations of epidemiological concepts have been a joy. My longing for this sort of leadership was intensified by living in the US for the first two years of its reality-TV presidency—and I’m no fan of the (male) prime minister of my home, Australia, either. But jumping from so few examples to the conclusion that the gender of political leaders has been decisive during this pandemic? That just looked to me like confirmation bias.
Click here to read the full article published by Wired on 1 July 2020.