Women leaders saved lives from Covid-19 by acting ‘more quickly and decisively’ to enforce lockdowns than in countries led by men, study finds
- Female leaders achieved ‘systematically and significantly better’ outcomes
- Study found women were more decisive when it came to enforcing lockdown
- Male leaders wanted to preserve their countries’ economy over safety, it found
Women leaders saved lives when they acted ‘more quickly and decisively’ to enforce lockdown measures, a study has found.
Female-led countries achieved ‘systematically and significantly better’ outcomes for their citizens than those with men in charge, the research suggested.
The scientists said there was a ‘definite and consistent pattern’ showing a lower number of Covid-19 deaths in women-led nations.
It comes as men such as the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson come under increasing criticism for not enforcing harsh restrictions to control the virus soon enough.
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been heralded for her swift action.
New Zealand went into a nationwide lockdown on March 23, when sports matches and all non-essential services were closed.
Female leaders achieved ‘systematically and significantly better’ outcomes for their citizens, the research suggested. Pictured, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at a press conference on August 14
But before that, on March 14, anyone entering the country had to self isolate for two weeks – one of the toughest border restrictions in the world.
Just five days later, on March 19, Ardern banned foreigners from entering the country.
In Britain a full lockdown was brought in on March 23, with all non-essential shops ordered to close by March 24.
The scientists behind the research, which was published by the World Economic Forum, tried to find out whether having a woman in charge was beneficial in the first quarter of the pandemic.
The University of Liverpool’s Professor Supriya Garikipati wrote: ‘Our results above 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.’
The researchers noted ‘several incidents of risky behaviour’ by men, including Boris Johnson’s claim he was shaking hands with ‘everybody’ in a hospital with coronavirus patients weeks before he became perilously ill with Covid-19.
But the research should not be interpreted as playing into the stereotype of women supposedly being risk averse.
Prof Garikipati said the reality was more complex.
The researchers noted ‘several incidents of risky behaviour’ by men, including Boris Johnson’s (pictured in Alrewas on August 15) claim he was shaking hands with ‘everybody’ in a hospital with coronavirus patients weeks before he became perilously ill with Covid-19
She argued that ‘women were less willing to take risks with lives but were more willing to accept risks in relation to the early lockdown of economies’.
‘It could well be that the relatively late lockdown decisions by male leaders may reflect male risk aversion to anticipated losses from locking down the economy,’ she added.
The evidence also suggests that the ’empathetic and decisive’ communication style by women improved the immediate outcomes from the pandemic striking their nations.
Because only 19 of the 149 countries in the study were led by women, the researchers needed to factor for these nations perhaps having specific characteristics that allow them to respond better in crises.
So they used a ‘nearest neighbour matching method’ to compare similar nations on characteristics of GDP per capita, population, proportion of people living in urban areas and the share of elderly citizens.
‘After controlling for this, we find that female-led countries have significantly fewer deaths and also spread of Covid-19 than countries led by men,’ Prof Garikipati wrote.