The first female Prime Minister of Barbados has claimed that women make better leaders than men, because they run their country ‘like a household’.
Barbadian politician Mia Mottley, 54, appeared on Good Morning Britain today with former Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt and the former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard to debate whether women make better leaders.
She claimed that females are more ‘caring’ than males, and consider more the impact their decisions will have on people’s feelings, meaning it’s easier to change people’s behaviour.
This comes after a study comparing countries of a similar size with comparable populations showed that at the start of the pandemic, women reacted faster, locked their countries down sooner, and had less deaths overall than those run by their male counterparts.
The first female Prime Minister of Barbados, pictured last year, has said women make better leaders than men, because they run their country ‘like a household’
Barbadian politician Mia Mottley, 54, appeared on Good Morning Britain today claimed that women are more ‘caring’ than men, and consider more the impact their decisions will have on people’s feelings
‘I think the issue is more really how women operate in terms of caring,’ said Mia. ‘And in many instances we treat issues how we would treat the household and the family.
‘Not in a negative way, in a way that recognises unless you drill down to things and see where you are in respect to how people are operating, and recognise how people are feeling and listening to you, you cannot change behaviour.
‘In this circumstance, it’s behaviour that can contain the virus, these things tend to reflect more because we will pause and not just look at it academically, but think how will it impact the people who are hurting.’
After being quizzed on whether she felt her views were sexist, she told that she simply wants ‘the attributes women bring to public office’ celebrated.
She was joined by the former Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt (bottom right) and the former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard (bottom left) to debate whether women make better leaders
‘I don’t think [it is sexist]. I think in households women negotiate in everything we do everyday.
‘Women also have to cooperate with men and we get that, so it gives us a complete picture, and I try not to use the sexist prism. But I want us to understand the attributes women bring to public office do make a difference.’
Meanwhile Helle, 53, claimed that male leaders such as Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have ‘failed’ during the crisis, because they didn’t have a ‘good cocktail of decision making’ – saying that Theresa May would have done a ‘better job’ than Johnson.
‘On this question of whether female leaders have done better in the crisis,’ said Helle, ‘I don’t know if that is true.
Helle, 53, claimed that male leaders such as Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have ‘failed’ during the crisis, as they didn’t have a ‘good cocktail of decision making’
Julia, 58, believed that while male and female brains are not ‘inherently different’, the genders are socialized differently – meaning women tend to have more empathetic traits
‘But what I do know when we see the strong men like Trump and to some extent Johnson and we see why they failed. That is because they didn’t have a good cocktail of decision making.’
She added: ‘I actually think Theresa may would have handled it better than Boris Johnson, but it’s not too hard to handle something better than him – I think anyone could have done it.’
Julia, 58, believed that while male and female brains are not ‘inherently different’, the genders are socialised differently – meaning women tend to have more empathetic traits, which need to be combined with strength in a female leader.
She said: ‘I do think we have to be a little bit careful about baking sexism in, I don’t believe there is an inherent difference in men and women’s brain – but we are socialised differently.
‘We let women lead if they manage to combine strength and empathy and people do want strength and empathy from their leaders and this is where those types of qualities come to the forefront.’