Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, an unexpected global crisis, a lot of attention has shifted to women leaders around the world. This includes Angela Merkel, Jacinda Ardern, Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen among others.
Whether it’s at the local level, within the countries, or at the Presidential/Prime Ministerial posts, women have tackled the issue with empathy and the results have been positive.
Most women-led countries announced a lockdown early on. That significantly reduced the virus from spreading, and hence the number of deaths. If a recent study is to be believed, half as many as male-led nations.
Now we have numbers to support that, too.
According to a report by The Guardian, an analysis of 194 countries, published by Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum, showed that women had a ‘systematically’ better approach towards controlling COVID-19.
This meant that these countries saw nearly half as many deaths as compared to nations governed by men.
In an interview given to The Guardian, Supriya Garikipati, a developmental economist at Liverpool University, said:
Our results clearly indicate that women leaders reacted more quickly and decisively in the face of potential fatalities. In almost all cases, they locked down earlier than male leaders in similar circumstances. 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.
The research was based on data received till May 19 and the parameters used were: GDP, population, population of the elderly, healthcare etc.
Among other things, it was found that women were ‘risk averse with regard to lives’ and took more chances with respect to the economy.